Blog: Music - Page 7

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Why artist subscriptions are the perfect partner to two-tier licensing

Cover image for Why artist subscriptions are the perfect partner to two-tier licensing
Mark Mulligan
With two-tier licensing now a thing , it is time to focus the discussion on how to add new components to the DSP ecosystem that will help long-tail artists continue to thrive in this brave new world. There are many positives that two-tier licensing will bring (helping mid-tier artist remuneration, attaching an appropriate premium to lean-forward listening, etc.
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There are no elite artists without elite artist development

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Kriss Thakrar
A recent interview with Mariah the Scientist saw her speak about the struggle of performing for only the second time in front of a crowd at one of the world’s biggest festivals, Rolling Loud. She shared that she “wasn’t good at it”, “did not know what she was doing”, and ultimately suffered from the consequences of all the criticism that followed.
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Two-tier licensing is about to become a reality

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Mark Mulligan
With the dust still far from settled on the UMG / Deezer streaming royalty proposal, something even bigger is coming: Spotify is turning the concept into reality in Q1 2024. The behind-the-scenes conversations have been ongoing for some time, but the details were stated publicly on panels at last week’s ADE conference, meaning that the information is now firmly in the public domain.
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How Taylor Swift has ushered in an era of direct distribution for media fusion

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Tim Mulligan
Cinematic releases of music concerts are nothing new, with the likes of the Beatles Help! film of 1965 ushering in a new era of mass participation for global fanbases beyond the concert arena. When Covid shut down the live music scene in 2020-2021, there was a brief flurry of interest in delivering virtual concerts for fans seeking a proxy for the live experience that went on hiatus.
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Niche is the way forward: DSP’s need function, not features

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Hanna Kahlert
It has never been easier to become a music creator. But, it has arguably never been harder to remain one as a full-time career. There are a whole host of reasons behind this, not least of which is a streaming economy that has upended the role of music in the daily lives of audiences, and a host of creator tools (including generative AI) that lower the barriers to music creation, to the point where nearly anyone can step over them with ease.
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Misaligned incentives make the music business a zero-sum game

Cover image for Misaligned incentives make the music business a zero-sum game
Tatiana Cirisano
“Pop Stars Aren’t Popping Like They Used To”, Billboard ’s Elias Leight writes in a recent article, in which record label executives stress over the struggle to break new artists. The article (or at least, the headline) stirred up a storm on Twitter — ahem, X — last week, where many users took the opportunity to slam record labels’ misguided focus on virality.
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