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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

#161

Post by 52-6F-62 »

gen220 wrote: post #103
52-6F-62 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labels often have established logistics for merchandizing (including design, QC, fulfillment, etc etc), websites, digital distribution through the higher-end channels, physical distribution deals (that one is even more work to get set up), connections to producers, mixing engineers, mastering houses, studios and so on. There are a lot of resources in the industry that are not available to the public. You have to buil…

Good insight! Let me zoom all the way out on the abstraction scale of what you said, and let me know if it makes sense. There are some segments of the music industry that are specialized, and capital-intensive or labor-intensive (merchandising, physical distribution, producing/mixing/mastering, studio access). The specialized segments would presumably not be able to exist or sustainably operate without a steady/predi…

Yeah pretty much!

I like to think more dimension to that scale is possible, but unexplored. That’s what I’m working on figuring out myself.

The degree to which you end up in B can differ a lot and depends on the nature of your agreements with whoever you get involved with and that can vary in a big way. We’ve all heard the stories of artists getting screwed out of their publishing rights even if they retain performing rights and all that.

The music world seems less rigid to me, expectations are different. And personalities are very different. Maybe the software/tech crossover in electronic music is closer, but I have no experience there. I’m a relic. :)

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

#162

Post by 52-6F-62 »

bryans wrote: post #143
52-6F-62 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, maybe not. There's a larger variety of business model behind record labels than what people usually mean when they refer to record labels. They're not all middlemen trying to take a cut out of artists. Those exist, and artists have always railed against the model... and then start their own label. Labels are mainly a house for all of the logistics behind an artist. No artist wants to spend 90% of their time ma…

> Maybe, maybe not. There's a larger variety of business model behind record labels than what people usually mean when they refer to record labels. They're not all middlemen trying to take a cut out of artists. Those exist, and artists have always railed against the model... and then start their own label. It's a nice theory, but it doesn't really play out like that. For example, back in the 90s and 00s, indie record…

It’s not a theory. It is. The rest there are localized, not common, properties

> That's about it.

Speaking of oversimplifying… That comparison is like saying a friendship is just a temporary association of two chunks of matter. Technically accurate from one slice, but boy is that missing information and not descriptive of the entire context.

It sounds like you had some negative experiences. I have too. It’s important not to let them colour your future. Damn them. They are not the whole of possibility. Humans aren’t all scum for the existence of thieves, after all. There’s more out there.

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

#163

Post by jstummbillig »

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.

> It's never true.

It is, and increasingly, but not obviously.

Labels have money and power. If you have enough money and/or power, you can always be some form of gatekeeper. It used to be studio access. Nowadays that's increasingly a commodity. What is increasingly more expensive is attention, so the labels shifted towards being publishers, building their own channels of distribution, to provide ears and eyes to artists in need.

If an artist has already broken through the wall, and has the attention, labels are in a very awkward position, in terms of their value proposition.

> Artists can get much further than before but going viral on TikTok is not a viable career strategy for most artists.

Which bring us to this part: There is no viable career strategy for most artists, period.

Artists obviously don't wanna believe that, so they think of labels as the solution to their issues (they are not).

Labels on the other hand only need artists that they think do maybe have a viable career strategy. The bigger the label, the more able and willing they are to take high risk/high reward bets, but relatively a lot less so than they did years ago, simply because it's not necessary anymore because of the dramatic democratisation of access to music production quality.

Put simply: Labels want artist that don't need them, but also don't realise, that they don't need them. In 2022, if you are an artist, and labels are getting terribly interested, you are probably a lot closer to not needing them than you think.

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

#164

Post by majani »

bryans wrote: post #152
majani wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it, there is a small window of opportunity for organic growth on TikTok right now, but very soon it will become pay to play. That's the playbook for every social site out there: leave everything free during the growth days, after growth starts peaking, start charging for every valuable thing on the site.

I was mistakenly telling people the "small window" for TikTok was closing over a year ago, but it's still open wide enough to fit a 747 through it. TikTok's algorithm, in particular, is actually extremely friendly toward user content, and that means there will always be room for organic growth on the platform, as is still true for every platform (even the dead ones like Facebook).

TikTok is able to stretch the organic period because of the absurd funding environment right now. It's parent company has raised $8 billion and is valued at $400 billion while still private! When the music stops they will surely charge for virality somehow

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

#165

Post by hnhg »

bryans wrote: post #157
hnhg wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be interesting to get a breakdown of your work by genre and so on. It's super interesting. Have you considered writing content about this (that doesn't give away your business)? [Alternatively, how would I begin to start learning about this?]

I keep meaning to start writing or creating videos, but at the end of the day, there are already a bunch of people producing that content and doing it very well. I will write a longer piece eventually about some particular topics that I think are overlooked or not understood, but I'd much rather stick to the Zoom calls where I actually get to meet people and answers questions and offer advice specific to their situat…

Thanks, appreciate it. I'll start with those videos. It's not so much for me, but rather friends who would need a push in the right direction. I might reach out to you again, if any of them are interested (as you said elsewhere, it really depends on how the individual responds to the realities of the music business...)

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

#167

Post by socksset »

candiddevmike wrote: post #4

Doesn't say how much the actual artists are seeing of this growth, and how spread out it is. These streaming services make it really hard for smaller artists to stand out, almost everyone uses the services "radio" equivalent which seems to play a very narrow scope of similar artists (mostly more well known). Basically it seems like it's easier than ever to become a musician with global reach/fans but harder than ever…

Of course streaming strengthens the power law distribution of the payouts in this space.

Podcast, youtube channel, music, it is all the same process and payout structure.

Since there is too much choice you just have to sample what is popular and so what is popular gets more popular at the expense of the less popular. Repeat.

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

#168

Post by whiddershins »

bryans wrote: post #154
whiddershins wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen several real life examples who have.

Then I would question what material they were learning, or how much effort they actually expended. I've watched even the worst songwriters and performers find success by grinding away at the right stones, so "I know a guy who tried Facebook ads and it didn't work" doesn't mean anything.

I don’t know who you are or what your perspective is but I am a music industry professional in New York. I also don’t know how you are defining success.

I also don’t know all your marketing knowledge. Maybe you know a whole set of things I am completely unaware of.

What I do know is success as an artist seems to be a weird blend of savvy, talent, luck … and who knows what else.

I have a bad reaction when people make blanket statements like you are doing, because it has a hint of victim blaming.

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

#169

Post by socksset »

LegitShady wrote: post #14
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.

I feel like this was true before streaming as well. smaller artists would say 'the label takes so much of the record sales, touring/swag is where I make money'

It was also always "not cool" to say the label actually helped you. I remember a piece on NPR that talked about this.

Many bands use to love their labels privately but in the press blast the labels as evil corporate empty suits to fit that typical narrative and image.

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

#170

Post by socksset »

birdyrooster wrote: post #12

Art is best when it's unpaid. I don't want you paying me for my music and I won't pay for yours. I am tired of corporate rent seeking in the art space. Yes this is historical for art of all kinds, but I think that was to the detriment of art rather than its benefit. The talent of artists has been used to ingratiate and inflate the perception of some truly awful people and ideas.

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