Blog: Record labels - Page 2

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.

UMG, Endel, and the case for labels in the AI space

Cover image for UMG, Endel, and the case for labels in the AI space

Tatiana Cirisano

1 Jun 2023

Universal Music Group

Warner Music Group

The flood of new music created using artificial intelligence (AI) will further erode major label market share, and some label executives’ recent comments about the value of human-made music seem to put those fears in plain sight.

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Why the creator tools and services market is bigger than you think (and it is not AI)

Cover image for Why the creator tools and services market is bigger than you think (and it is not AI)

Tatiana Cirisano

10 May 2023

Creator economy

One of the biggest stories of the past few years is the rise of self-releasing artists, who number 6.4 million in 2022, a 16.8% growth from 2021. Everyone wants a piece of that growth, which is part of the reason why distributors like Stem and TuneCore increasingly offer much more than distribution, major record labels are opening (or acquiring) their own label service operations, and there is a growing roster of what Music Business Worldwide has termed “inside-out majors” , like the recently-launched Gamma.

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Why AI generation might be just what music needs

Cover image for Why AI generation might be just what music needs

Tatiana Cirisano

25 Apr 2023

artificial intelligence

Music streaming

In her hit ‘Saoko’, Rosalía celebrates her multi-dimensionality, singing (translated from Spanish): “I contradict myself, I transform / I’m everything, I transform”. As artists navigate the world of AI-generated music, her words might become a mantra.

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Why AI music may make fandom even more important

Cover image for Why AI music may make fandom even more important

Tatiana Cirisano

22 Mar 2023

artificial intelligence

fragmented fandom

Artificial intelligence (AI) was as hot a topic as ever at last week’s SXSW conference, where debate swirled around how human artists will compete with AI-generated music. As more parts of music-making involve AI assistance, this distinction between “AI” and “human” music may soon become as irrelevant as music created on a laptop versus recorded in a studio.

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Should streaming take a cue from TikTok’s revamped creator program?

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Tatiana Cirisano

23 Feb 2023

Music streaming

A year ago, VidCon co-founder and vlogger Hank Green posted a viral YouTube video lambasting TikTok’s $1 billion Creator Fund, claiming it delivered chump change to videos with millions of views. The issue, he explained, was that the pool of funds was static — so the more that TikTok’s creator base grew, the less everyone made.

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At the Grammys and Super Bowl, the last hurrah of the mainstream era

Cover image for At the Grammys and Super Bowl, the last hurrah of the mainstream era

Tatiana Cirisano

14 Feb 2023

Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl LVII over the weekend was remarkable for several reasons, but most of all was that she had not performed a show at this scale in seven long years. “The wait is almost over”, Apple Music’s Ebro Darden teased in promotions leading up to the big night, and the wait simply being over arguably mattered more than whatever Rihanna decided to do onstage.

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With its Australia experiment, TikTok gives the music industry the ultimate test

Cover image for With its Australia experiment, TikTok gives the music industry the ultimate test

Tatiana Cirisano

9 Feb 2023

independent music

Licensing negotiations between platforms and the music industry come down to one question: which side needs the other more? The more that TikTok needs hit music to attract users, the more leverage the music industry (meaning labels and publishers) gains.

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Music discovery in 2023 is about the journey, not the moment

Cover image for Music discovery in 2023 is about the journey, not the moment

Tatiana Cirisano

12 Jan 2023

Music streaming

Oversaturation was among the hottest music industry topics of 2022. By now, we have all read — and maybe gasped at — the recent estimate that more than 100,000 new songs hit streaming services daily.

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The record labels’ TikTok opportunity cost

Cover image for The record labels’ TikTok opportunity cost

Tatiana Cirisano

22 Nov 2022

Music streaming

With their short-term music licensing agreements soon to expire, record labels are reportedly pressuring TikTok to sign an ad revenue share agreement, which would see TikTok pay a share of advertising revenue to music rightsholders.

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YouTube's secret weapon for overtaking Spotify

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Tatiana Cirisano

22 Sep 2022

Creator economy

YouTube has not been quiet about its ambitions to overtake Spotify as the music industry’s top revenue driver by 2025. The clock is ticking, and although YouTube is the most popular platform for music listening globally (55% of consumers watch music videos on YouTube, compared to 24% who listen to Spotify), it still has a significant way to go towards translating that dominance to revenue.

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Beatport’s LabelRadar acquisition is the latest sign of the platforms era

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Tatiana Cirisano

22 Jul 2022

This week, online music marketplace Beatport acquired LabelRadar, a service that streamlines the demo submission process for artists and labels. Following previous strategic acquisitions, the deal represents another step in Beatport’s path towards becoming a creative hub for creators and labels alike (which, in dance music, can often be the same thing).

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A counterculture music industry is emerging — welcome to the platform era

Cover image for A counterculture music industry is emerging — welcome to the platform era

Tatiana Cirisano

5 Jul 2022

What do TikTok’s distribution tool , Universal Music Group’s samples marketplace , and Snoop Dogg’s virtual marijuana have in common? On the surface, not much. But beneath, these news headlines are just three more recent reflections of what MIDiA has identified as a new iteration of the music business.

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Reflections on the music industry at NFT.NYC

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Tatiana Cirisano

23 Jun 2022

At the fourth annual NFT.NYC conference in New York, the sentiment fell somewhere between faint excitement and “so this is still a thing, right?” Unlike this time last year, when the music industry was hooked on crypto, this year’s event arrives at a time when the crypto market, like much of the economy, is in decline.

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The record label addiction to virality is about the attention recession, too

Cover image for The record label addiction to virality is about the attention recession, too

Tatiana Cirisano

26 May 2022

Content Creators

Creator economy

In a painfully-of-the-moment twist of irony, Halsey went viral on TikTok this week for speaking out about the pressure to do just that. “Basically I have a song that I love that I wanna release ASAP, but … my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok,” they said .

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Is TikTok becoming a record label? The question misses the point

Cover image for Is TikTok becoming a record label? The question misses the point

Tatiana Cirisano

18 May 2022

Music streaming

Every time TikTok does anything that seems to hedge on record label territory, someone inevitably asks the question: is TikTok turning into a record label? Cue the eye-rolls from the music industry. No one seems to want to admit how powerful a music company competitor TikTok really is — to the point where becoming a record label is not the point at all.

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Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

Cover image for Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

Mark Mulligan

6 May 2022

Streaming Music

Universal music’s Q1 2022 earnings showed continued growth but a noticeable slowdown in streaming growth, with streaming revenues up 12% year-on-year (YoY) in USD term compared to a growth of 35% one year earlier.

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Why TikTok is primed to become the next-generation music company

Cover image for Why TikTok is primed to become the next-generation music company

Tatiana Cirisano

10 Mar 2022

By now, TikTok’s impact on popular music is well-established. The platform routinely catapults songs to hit status, and it has become a regular part of digital marketing campaigns. But behind the scenes, something deeper is happening.

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The record labels are weaning themselves off their Spotify dependency

Cover image for The record labels are weaning themselves off their Spotify dependency

Mark Mulligan

6 Aug 2021

The major labels had a spectacular streaming quarter, registering 33% growth on Q2 2020 to reach $3.1 billion. Spotify had a less impressive quarter, growing revenues by just 23%. After being the industry’s byword for streaming for so long, Spotify’s dominant role is beginning to lessen.

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Labels are going to become more like VCs than they probably want to be

Cover image for Labels are going to become more like VCs than they probably want to be

Mark Mulligan

30 Jul 2021

artist accelerators

When you are in the midst of change it can be hard to actually see it. Right now, the music business is undergoing a consumption paradigm shift that is changing the culture and business of music. Streaming may be well established and maturing in many markets but the market impact will continue to accelerate as behaviours continue to evolve and bed in.

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The IFPI Confirms 2019 was the Independents' Year for Streaming

Cover image for The IFPI Confirms 2019 was the Independents' Year for Streaming

Mark Mulligan

4 May 2020

Independent labels

UPDATE: this post has been updated to correct an erroneous data point. Previously it stated that independent market share was 41%. It has been corrected to 29% Recently I wrote about how a little-known Spotify statistic revealed that independents (labels and artists) outperformed the majors on its platform in 2019 .

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