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Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

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Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#121

Post by voltaireodactyl »

gentleman11 wrote: post #53
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #2

I am having a hell of a time adjusting to a streaming-focused music world. On one hand, I love having access to pretty much all the music I want, and have discovered a lot of new artists (through no help of the apps themselves, however). On the other hand, having my library randomly switch on me with songs disappearing, album covers swapping out or renamed is driving me NUTS. Not to mention the general buggyness that…

Where can you buy (drm free) music these days? After google play shut down, I haven’t known where to go

Bandcamp is the pinnacle of such places in my opinion. I’m hoping it stays as it is for many years to come.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#122

Post by scarecrowbob »

eikenberry wrote: post #17
BaseballPhysics wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. Listen to any smaller artist and they'll tell you streaming services are only good for exposure and the real money is in ticket sales, swag, and physical and digital sales to buying customers.

This is still a major win for smaller artists though as exposure is the main thing they are missing. Pre-streaming/internet they would have only had local scene, fan clubs, etc. They always made all their money via fans buying things. All performing musicians (as opposed to studio musicians) make the majority of their money this way, the recording industry was always primarily a way to get promoted, it was never a go…

That doesn't really match up with the b-list regional folks I've gigged with.

As far as I can tell, the big goal for the folks who were 25 in 1978 was to get an album on with large distribution and make basically mailbox money for the rest of a career. I've known people who have done that basically on a couple songs. Like, pretty middle of the road folks I've met were able to make a living off their mailbox.

That will likely never happen again in our lifetimes.

But it's just not the case that folks were never making a living off selling recordings.

And further, being in a world market (as far as I can tell for a small, small time artist) is horrible:

I'm a very, very good musician but I am not world-class good.

But now I have to compete with world-class artists?

I'd much rather have to book shows via telephone if it means that I had access to a local scene that didn't have access to literally every recording ever made.

As a listener I personally like that access, but as a musician I have no problem thinking it's categorically =not= better for folks on the small end of things.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#123

Post by mtalantikite »

bryans wrote: post #37
basisword wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence of this? People have been saying labels are irrelevant for a decade or two at least now. It's never true. To succeed you need to get noticed and for that you need a marketing budget and the labels provide that. Artists can get much further than before but going viral on TikTok is not a viable career strategy for most artists.

Yes, I have tons of evidence for this, and for why all of your claims have no foundation. Allow me to provide one example of the hundreds that I personally know of or worked with (which is a tiny fraction of the numbers finding success independently). In late 2020, a band called Sub-Radio had a couple thousand followers on each social media platform and around ~15k monthly listeners on Spotify, and this was after man…

Out of curiosity, did they book their own tour? What sort of rooms are they playing? And who is dealing with their music publishing?

All of my close musician friends generally have teams that deal with those sorts of things, but not necessarily from their label (although the more famous ones playing large rooms/stadiums definitely go through their labels).

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#124

Post by Forgeties79 »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #21
BaseballPhysics wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So stop streaming and start buying. That's still an option. I use streaming services for taste testing, but if I really like something and want to own it, I turn to a DRM-free platform (e.g. Bandcamp) to buy from the artists, then use my own solution for playing that music on my devices (in my case Navidrome). And as a bonus you'll put a lot more money in the pockets of the artists you love.

I've purchased plenty of music, but the problem is that at least on iOS, the music app will still swap out song/album/info/art, or mismatch them altogether. The app itself is optimized for streaming, with everything else being an afterthought. My favorite way to support artists I love is to go to their tours and buy their merch, including vinyls that are too cumbersome to actually listen to :D.

>including vinyls that are too cumbersome to actually listen to That’s why you record them and cut the recorded master track into sides (or individual songs but I find it’s more fun to preserve the sides-experience) for listening on the go! I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s almost like this weird form of archiving meditation for me.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#125

Post by priddypixels »

basisword wrote: post #20
bryans wrote: post #15

The self-congratulatory nature of the article and quotes actually betray a self-reassurance, because in reality, record labels are rapidly becoming irrelevant. They're scrambling to figure out how they fit into the TikTok era, where artists no longer require years of financial incubation to succeed. The music industry is growing because independent musicians are finally figuring out how to navigate it without any nee…

Do you have any evidence of this? People have been saying labels are irrelevant for a decade or two at least now. It's never true. To succeed you need to get noticed and for that you need a marketing budget and the labels provide that. Artists can get much further than before but going viral on TikTok is not a viable career strategy for most artists.

Check out how Frank Ocean released 2 albums at a time to A) get out of his Def Jam contract then B) release another album (same week?) in a deal with Apple Music. He was black-balled by the industry after. Not another Apple Music partnership since afaik

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#126

Post by wodenokoto »

bryans wrote: post #15

The self-congratulatory nature of the article and quotes actually betray a self-reassurance, because in reality, record labels are rapidly becoming irrelevant. They're scrambling to figure out how they fit into the TikTok era, where artists no longer require years of financial incubation to succeed. The music industry is growing because independent musicians are finally figuring out how to navigate it without any nee…

On the flip side I want to say the fastest growing genre globally is kpop and it is extremely heavily label driven, with very long incubation periods.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#127

Post by bryans »

basisword wrote: post #97
bryans wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a conspiratorial and untrue claim. The most popular curated playlists (i.e. ones that aren't algorithmically produced by Spotify under the guise of curation) don't actually have label influence. Anyone can contact those curators directly, and if presented with something palatable, they will most likely put it in rotation. > Otherwise you're just sending your demo to a blog and hoping it might get listened to i…

>> What do you think the record label is doing when they contact a curator or radio station? It's the exact same as if a musician had contact them. It's an email to a person, who makes a decision based on the content. It’s their job to have existing relationships with the bloggers, they aren’t just sending cold emails. And I’d they don’t have relationships they can built them thanks to the credibility they have natur…

You're still inventing a scenario to fit your narrative without any actual knowledge of how it works. The overwhelming majority of curators do not care about record labels and will actually avoid them in favor of independent artists. There is not some magical ubiquitous collusion going on between the labels and curators of the world. So, what you're describing is nonsense.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#128

Post by sickcodebruh »

gen220 wrote: post #34

Looking for pointers on a music industry question. For an up and coming musician (e.g. Billie Eilish in December 2015, after it was clear she had potential and after she had signed with an A&R in January 2016, but well before she signed with Interscope Records in August 2016), What is the primary motivation to sign to a record label? Assuming they have a solid understanding of the financial and copyright aspects of t…

In addition to the resources and services mentioned by the sibling comment, good labels also claim to offer legitimacy and provide a built-in audience. If you’re playing in a saturated, competitive field like underground metal, getting released by the right label can get you eyes and ears that you’d struggle to reach on your own. It’s not always a silver bullet — plenty of labels over-promise and under-deliver — but it can save you years of toiling in total obscurity.

Another important thing to remember is that many musicians aren’t really dedicated/focused/organized/disciplined (pick as many as you’d like) enough to run Band, Inc. Plenty of bands also have no interest in becoming a brand and are willing to stay a bit more underground if it means they can focus on music. Labels and others who are interested in handling that work can be great partners.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#129

Post by wintermutestwin »

conradfr wrote: post #60
bryans wrote: post #15

The self-congratulatory nature of the article and quotes actually betray a self-reassurance, because in reality, record labels are rapidly becoming irrelevant. They're scrambling to figure out how they fit into the TikTok era, where artists no longer require years of financial incubation to succeed. The music industry is growing because independent musicians are finally figuring out how to navigate it without any nee…

There's great labels still, like Sargent House. Social platforms and digitalization can helped being truly independent but there's still non-music work that a label would do for you that you now have to manage. And even if the stories about the struggling musicians becoming rock stars has always been embellished, it seems nowadays most of the current ones had financial security before pursuing their music career beca…

>There's great labels still, like Sargent House.

True, but the only OmarRodriguezLopez (for example) that I actually listen to is available on Apple Music. Every once in a while I'll pull up something on YouTube that isn't on Apple Music, but my 99% of the time music player is Apple Music, and if I buy something that's not on there it is a PITA to deal with and costs as much as a month sub to all the things on streaming.

The only reason that a label like Sargent House is relevant is as a discovery aid.

Re: Global music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by paid subscription streaming

#130

Post by Jensson »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #122
eikenberry wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is still a major win for smaller artists though as exposure is the main thing they are missing. Pre-streaming/internet they would have only had local scene, fan clubs, etc. They always made all their money via fans buying things. All performing musicians (as opposed to studio musicians) make the majority of their money this way, the recording industry was always primarily a way to get promoted, it was never a go…

That doesn't really match up with the b-list regional folks I've gigged with. As far as I can tell, the big goal for the folks who were 25 in 1978 was to get an album on with large distribution and make basically mailbox money for the rest of a career. I've known people who have done that basically on a couple songs. Like, pretty middle of the road folks I've met were able to make a living off their mailbox. That wil…

Sounds like they won the lottery by getting perpetual visibility on poorly made albums thanks to how poorly optimized discovery and publishing was back then. Wont ever happen again with how much better those processes are today.

Also doesn't sound like that old system actually was good for the music industry, it made a few lucky people a lot of money even if they didn't produce good music, which encourages people to chase those contracts and optimize for that rather than pleasing music listeners.

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