Our main Music Ally report is getting bigger and going quarterly! This is the first edition of the new report including some of the new elements we’ve been planning, with more to be added in the Q2 report in early July. We couldn’t ignore the coronavirus pandemic, of course, so there’s a feature exploring some […]
This year we’ve picked 42 (also the answer to life, the universe and everything as fans of Douglas Adams will know) of the trends and moments we found most significant in 2019. What are they? *takes deep breath* industry growth; the European Copyright Directive and Music Modernization Act; Spotify’s two-sided marketplace; Apple Music’s bundled future; […]
This report focuses on AI music – both in terms of artificial-intelligence systems that are creating original music, and AI-driven tools that human musicians are using for their own creative purposes. There’s lots to talk about. We’ve started by digging through the Music Ally archives to offer a timeline of modern AI music – starting with UK […]
Our focus is on music/tech startups, and their interaction with the music industry. Screenwriter William Goldman’s famous line about Hollywood – ”Nobody knows anything” – applies just as well to the task of spotting successful music/tech startups. But what Music Ally does know is that whenever we’ve been curious about startups in the present, it’s given us […]
It’s notable how little research is publicly available on the size of the podcast audience globally. Ovum is the one research firm to have published estimates. Having previously claimed that there were 484 million [monthly] podcast listeners at the end of 2017, it now expects this to grow to more than one billion listeners in […]
India is the second largest country in the world by population. It is also YouTube’s fastest-growing market where the platform is accessed by 20% of the population. YouTube is not just a way for Western acts to break in India – it is also the single most important platform for Indian acts to break globally. […]
Playlists have been referred to as everything from the new album, the new compilation, the new greatest hits, through to the new radio, the new MTV and more. Whether you’re a pop act trying to build a truly global audience or just trying to make a living from making mood music, if you’re not on […]
Artificial intelligence is a hot ticket in the music industry and is spinning off in a variety of exciting new directions. It is being used to create music but also to power recommendations, to better understand the contexts of listening and to patch the leaks in the hull of metadata. It is, therefore, the Swiss […]
Welcome to the first Music Ally Report of 2019. We’re taking a look at some of the key challenges that lie ahead for our industry this year – and how they might be tackled. From diversity to startups via fake music and taking a bite out of radio, we hope it’s a constructive take on […]
“May you live in interesting times,” runs the old Chinese curse. The music industry has certainly done that, through the last two decades of digital disruption. Typical to form, 2018 was very interesting indeed. For our review of the year, we’ve picked the 40 trends that shaped 2018 for our industry. Spotify adapted to life […]
This report looks at the aftermath of the recent Article 13 vote in the European Parliament. We’ve talked to several of the music bodies who were most involved in the lobbying process to find out what they think the vote means; what’s likely to happen next; and what that will mean for the long-running ‘value […]
This month’s report focuses on country music and how the genre is finally leaning in to streaming, with the major streaming services also making it a priority. We’ve talked to Amazon, Spotify, YouTube and the Nashville arms of UMG, Sony/ATV and Warner/Chappell among others to uncover what’s happening with country and streaming, and where it […]
