INgrooves CEO Robb McDaniels is a supporter of streaming music, so his latest op-ed piece for Billboard is a positive take on the question of artist and label payouts. However, his thoughts on the impact for indies are even-handed. “The early adopters of streaming services are, generally, high-volume purchasers of music who are indie-leaning and tech-savvy,” writes McDaniels. “As a result, there is a disproportionate impact of the shift to streaming on the indie side compared with major labels that focus on genres that target an older, more mainstream demographic.” However, he also points out that indies are benefitting in other ways that may pay off over time, as streaming services scale. “INgrooves’ market share on Spotify is nearly double what it is on Nielsen SoundScan. This is likely due to the type of consumer (e.g., indie, hipster) signing up for streaming services, and the fact that there’s great experimentation and passive listening available through these services.” McDaniels predicts that while streaming is currently cannibalising download sales faster than expected in the US, “we’ll return to last summer’s peak sales levels by late 2014”.
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…