Reports: curation

Playlists are swiftly becoming the lingua franca of the music streaming economy. While most closely associated with Spotify, playlists are now central to streaming as an entire sector. While playlists may not yet have become the dominant use case for streaming music in the way that binge watching is for video, they are transforming how audiences consume music and are becoming the key tool by which streaming services can differentiate in a commodified and highly-competitive market.

Q2 2016 emerged as a watershed moment for streaming music, with label streaming revenue growing strongly enough to lift overall revenues for all three major labels. Meanwhile Spotify and Apple registered record growth, soon followed by streaming announcements from Amazon, Pandora and iHeart Media.

The US and the UK have long dominated the global music industry, thanks in no small part to the benefit of having that most exportable of languages English as their mother tongue. A heritage of decade after decade of stellar artists and music scenes of course also helps, but the first signs are emerging of smaller music markets being able to make their mark on the global arena in a way previously unimaginable.

Streaming hit a host of milestones in 2015, reaching 67.5 million subscribers and driving $2.9 billion of trade revenue, up 31% on 2014. While the competitive marketplace upped the ante, music services wielded curation to drive differentiation. Playlists have always been the core currency of streaming, but now more than ever they are becoming the beating heart, the fuel which drives both discovery and consumption.