Creator culture The song becomes the feed
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The 20,000 Foot View: The creator tools marketplace is creating a revolution in the culture and business of music. The third decade of the millennium represents the opening of a new chapter for the music business, with the means of production and distribution fully democratised. Perhaps the most meaningful shift, however, will be taking music making out of the hands solely of traditional musicians and into the hands of consumers.
Key insights
- Technology has enabled consumers to express themselves via images and video; now the same process is set to happen for music, triggering the emergence of what MIDiA calls UGC music
- Technology that currently powers creator tools (AI, soundpacks, sequencing) will be simplified and put into the hands of consumers who will use it to express themselves on social feeds just like they do now with images and video
- The shift will create a splintering of music, similar to that which has already happened in video (e.g., Netflix versus TikTok). As with video, the splintering will be given structure by different formats tied to specific app formats
- Creator tools platforms will become places where artists can build micro communities of fans, bringing them into the creative process and creating new monetisation opportunities for creators
- UGC music will dramatically increase the total addressable market (TAM) for creator tools, both in terms of producing tools for consumers and due to the widening of the artist funnel
- Destinations that harness UGC music will have the potential to become next-generation music companies, layering label-like services and streaming functionality
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Bandcamp, Bandlab, Clubhouse, Fancircles, Instagram, Landr, Roblox, Snapchat, Soundstorming, Splash, Splice, Spotify, TikTok, Trackd, Twitch, Voisey