Vinyls of The Doors albums, CD's of Britney Spears, Michael Jackson's Thriller music video, streams of Blinding Lights, and more. The music industry is constantly changing to keep up with how we're listening to music and with our digital footprint getting bigger, there's no telling how else we'll be watching & listening to our favorite hits.
jborden.com | 2020
From vinyl, CDs & MP3s to Youtube, iTunes, and Spotify and onto the fresher and newer Peloton, TikTok, Amazon Music, and Meta. The music industry has shifted in the way listeners enjoy and stream music as well as how artists market and collect revenue. The physical format of music reigned supreme initially with artists distributing and promoting their music using physical copies of their tracks and selling them. The only way for these copies of music to be heard was through specific players that constricted us to rely on one device to enjoy our music, which most likely laid in the comfort of our homes.
As technology advanced and the introduction of smartphones as well as laptops became a worldwide necessity, music companies were born from these open areas within the market. These companies relied on audio and visual components of music that could be added to our everyday devices. No longer were fans listening to their favorite artists only in the comfort of their home, but now we're bringing them along on the street, with friends, in the car, or with headphones.
Mobile streaming platforms such as iTunes and Spotify were born and took the world of streaming by storm through allowing its users to purchase, download, and play their favorite music from anywhere on their devices. With a membership fee, users can access millions of songs, albums, and artists via the app all in one convenient location. This new introduction to the industry provided artists with a new way to revenue build via royalties based on the number of streams. With cell phones becoming a major source of entertainment, these apps bring with it an easily accessible tool that has forever changed the way in which we consume music and has altered the music industry as a whole.
Youtube was next up and provided not only the music-listening piece but did so for free and included millions of beloved artist's music videos.
Unlike other music streaming services introduced in the early 2000s, the site provides users with the ability to freely search and listen to music at the click of a button, no downloads or payment required. The inclusion of music videos opened up doors for artists to share their music amongst a widely used internet platform. Additionally, Youtube provided a major source of promo, added another platform for A&R reps to scout talent, and connected artists to a more worldwide audience. With MTV being the singular way for an artist's music videos to be seen, the introduction of Youtube gives users the opportunity to watch and listen to these videos at their leisure while also providing another way for artists to collect revenue.
So where does this lead us now?
Many other opportunities for artists to promote their music, gain followers, and collect revenue have opened up. With new additions to the market such as Peloton, AmazonMusic, Meta and even short form video, the marketing pool within music is widening.
Another new area listed as a major music DSPs are fitness classes such as Peloton, which provides artists with a more unique way for their music to be promoted compared to other digital platforms. Besides its worldwide popularity and devotees, the platform bases its classes primarily on the music and provides its users with a chance to discover or rediscover artists. Through varying genres, albums, newly released singles, and artist series, the classes are catered to the music and reach even more listeners in finding their new favorite hits.
Unlike other fitness studios and platforms, Peloton’s partnership with artists and labels had helped reach an even wider audience to their already large fanbase. With live classes dedicated to recent releases, such as Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift, ABBA, NSYNC, and even Queen, they’ve continued to introduce new artists and pay omage to older ones. They’ve even had artist features on the live classes, such as Lizzo and T-Pain where they devoted the class to their old and newer releases. Peloton leads amongst other streaming services in being the highest paying of artist royalties as compare to the other platforms. Since app users attribute their Peloton loyalty to the music aspect of the classes, it’s no wonder they pay the most in royalties to keep the good music coming!
Amazon itself is a dominating platform on the internet with over 200 million prime members and millions of active regular Amazon users. Through this site, online and retail stores are able to connect with consumers directly, so why not music? Amazon used its mass audience to create Amazon Music, which provides its prime members with access to over 100 million songs ad-free at no added cost. So, instead of users purchasing a membership at other competitors, such as Spotify and Apple Music, they can continue remaining prime members while also getting the added bonus of their favorite music. Music listeners aren't the only fans of this newer addition to Amazon, established artists are as well.
Neil Young | Twitter | 2022
Not only is music being promoted on one of the largest internet sites for those of all ages to access but as there are already millions of loyal platform users, artists are almost guaranteed to reach fans and collect revenue from. Similar to other streaming platforms, the ease in which music can be listened to continues to become easier for us music fans.
Short form video has become the hottest thing over the past couple years. With apps like TikTok, Youtube Shorts, and Instagram Reels - social media has been adapting to the desire for shorter, quick-form content. It’s no question whether these platforms have inadvertently become a major area for music when it comes to Gen Z, since over the past few years it has altered the industry completely. TikTok has acknowledged its dominance in music marketing, music promo, and artist discovery and because of this, they've recently created SoundOn. The recently created music distribution site is where new artists can distribute their music easily while maintaining full ownership and rights. This extension to the company is still in the works and will be a major competitor to labels and other distribution services. The site will allow content creators to promote their music, work with established music industry professionals, and provide these newbie artists with assistance in growth and solidify their music careers.
The app itself has been a new and popular tool in teasing snippets of upcoming songs, connecting with fans to gain more traction, promoting albums, and spreading the word on upcoming tours or festivals. Many labels are even requiring that artists post on these apps and hit a certain quota in order to release their songs. As Gen Z’s presence is a major aspect in the music industry, marketing and promo on these short form video apps is a must.
Dezeen | Alicia Finney | 2021
Meta is a new and quickly popularizing area within the music industry, which explores the idea of virtual reality and the online universe. As we explore this new area within the market, we’ve come to realize that music is adapting to the way we live our life and our digital footprint. One being, music and online concerts being added into games. Artists like Ariana Grande and Travis Scott partnered with Fortnite in curating a virtual concert where the artists promoted their recently dropped albums on the massive game for users to experience live, dance with fellow concert goers, and be prompted to stream the new releases. The extravagant event featured large graphics that mimic the artist themselves with themes and designs that resemble the album and artist style. Users could enjoy the new music in a virtual world from the comfort of their own homes and this is just the beginning of Meta's collaboration with music.
Artists are also selling individualized online tokens or NFTs of their art, music, music videos, and albums, which can be used as a form of currency for merch or concert tickets. These online images have been sold by beloved artists to fans for thousands of dollars and will continue to multiply in value since they’re one of a kind. These secure tokens allow artists to collect direct revenue without the worry of piracy or even signing to a label. NFTs may even create a more interpersonal relationship between artists and fans, which will all-in-all benefit the industry as a whole.
It doesn’t just end with NFTs, we’re also adapting in the way we digest and promote music through VR, AR, and spatial audio. These newer additions to the digital world will change the way we experience live performances and concerts as we may rely on these headsets instead of joining live performances. Artists are utilizing this ever-changing and expanding industry by taking advantage of these new and exciting markets as we slowly adapt, normalize, and adopt a more digital footprint.
Comments