Streaming’s early fortunes were intimately tied to telco music strategy, with the streaming services eager to piggy back telcos’ much larger marketing budgets and telcos equally keen to pursue marketplace differentiation and brand kudos. Telco music bundles are delivering more revenue and users than ever before but their relative role in the streaming economy has lessened. At the end of 2016 the picture has changed markedly. Like a marriage that has lost its spark, both parties value each other’s company but no longer cast each other covetous glances. But just as with a tired marriage, there are still good times and both parties would rather work out how to build a new relationship within the confines of their existing union rather than part ways. 

Companies and services mentioned in this report:            Anghami, Apple Music, Axiata, Deezer, Digi EE, KKBox, KPN, Medianet, MusicQubed, Napster, Netflix, Optus, SOCAN, Spark, Spotify, Telenor, Tidal 

NOTE: A full list of music telco partnerships and a telco revenue model are included in the excel spreadsheet posted alongside this report for Data Access subscribers.