Blog: Streaming economics

On Friday, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will announce its full year 2023 financial results to investors in its fourth quarter 2023 earnings call . It is going to make for hard reading by both investors and WBD senior management alike.

Everyone hurts – the problem with ‘fixing’ streaming Apple’s Q4 2022 revenue fall was further illustration that the global economic environment is affecting everyone. During such times, companies look for ways to avoid the worst of the impacts, partially through ‘efficiencies’ but also through growth, by exploring new income streams and improving deal terms.

It has been an excellent year for the music industry as it enters a new era of growth . While streaming has been at the heart of this growth, there is an underlying tension between platforms and the artists that they depend on.

When it comes to the music industry’s transition towards streaming, how the model has worked in the past requires a reconsideration of perspective. This is because throughout the business’s entire history, catalogue and copyright accounted for the majority of revenue, as breaking new artists was, and remains, an expensive endeavour very much in the VC model of investment, with a few large payoffs accounting for the overall cost.

OK, you’re going to have to bearwith me on this one, but let me take you back to 2nd century Rome… The Roman Empire was at the peak of its powers. Its borders stretched from Scotland down to Syria and across to Armenia, and throughout its dominions, Rome spread its culture, language, administration and military prowess.

Spotify has published its much anticipated 2016 revenues. Because the company is under so much analytical scrutiny, there is little that is particularly surprising but there is still plenty we can learn from the results: Growth maintains momentum: Spotify recorded revenues of €2.

Having just celebrated its 10 th (streaming) birthday, Netflix followed up with a strong earnings release, announcing 5.8 million net new paid subscribers in Q4 , sending its share price up by 9%. This wraps up a stellar year for Netflix, one in which it doubled down on original programming and delivered acclaimed hits such as Stranger Things and The OA, shows that don’t fit the traditional TV mould.

Australian streaming music service Guvera has announced its long-anticipated IPO on Australia’s ASX exchange in July. Guvera has always been an intriguing component of the digital music landscape. On the surface it has been pioneering music streaming in emerging markets where the big western services have failed to make inroads.