As revenues from DSPs have reached enormous levels, it’s inevitable that there will be some behind-the-scenes machinations…
Tag: major labels
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One-off ‘non-DSP’ payments fuelling major labels’ revenue surge
The three major labels’ revenues could have grown by 29% in 2021 according to new number-crunching by Midia Research.
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Black Music Action Coalition launches industry ‘report card’
Last summer, the US-based Black Music Action Coalition called for major labels and streaming services to do more to tackle racial inequities in the music industry than simply create funds and donate […]
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Major label racial justice funds have paid out around $37m
It’s a year since the #TheShowMustBePaused movement saw the music industry down tools for the day to think about racial justice and inequality, and to make plans for the music […]
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UK study questions majors/indies split on streaming playlists
Do independent labels get a fair share of slots on music streaming services’ playlists? It’s a complicated question, with the answer having varied, historically, depending on which playlists you’re talking […]
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Streaming panel calls for more innovation from DSPs and labels
Are the big music streaming services too similar to one another? And if so, how can they break out of that box to innovate and differentiate themselves?
A panel at Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit Global online conference yesterday, had some ideas. Angel Gambino, partner at venture development firm Prehype and until recently chief commercial officer at Napster, set the ball rolling.
“One of the things that I’m struck by from a consumer standpoint is that there isn’t so much differentiation between the streaming services from an experiential standpoint,” she said.
“One of the things that needs to happen is looking at not just expanding into other genres of programming – i.e. podcasts – but what can the DSPs and the wider ecosystem of startups, of people who are working in music/tech on a daily basis, what can we do from a product and service and experiential standpoint to help take playlisting and discovery to the next stage?”
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Major labels sue American ISP Charter Communications
The latest US lawsuit accusing an ISP of facilitating piracy focuses on Charter Communications. A group of labels and publishers under the auspices of Universal, Sony and Warner are suing the […]
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Should Spotify windfall lead majors to cancel unrecouped debts for legacy artists?
Musician Tom Gray of British band Gomez – currently firing up crowds on the 20th anniversary tour celebrating their ‘Bring It On’ album – has an idea for major labels about how to follow up their windfalls from Spotify’s public listing.
In short: he thinks they should cancel the unrecouped debts of the legacy artists whose music was part of the catalogues that ensured they got equity in Spotify before its launch 10 years ago.
Gray outlined his thoughts in a tweetstorm this week.
“The majors are all making huge profits from the sales of their Spotify shares and they say they will distribute monies to artists based on the number of streams they’ve had,” he wrote.
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Streaming growth may be ‘haunted by advance payments’
Music-streaming revenues are still growing at a decent clip, but how much of that growth comes from payments for streams versus payments of advances to major labels?
Midia Research’s Mark Mulligan has been calculator-bashing again to figure out the answer, and it raises a few questions about the wider industry picture.
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Streaming now bigger than downloads for Universal Music
Universal Music Group has reached a new digital tipping point: in the third quarter of this year, streaming generated 51% of its recorded music business’ digital income, according to UMG’s latest financial results.
That means UMG has joined WMG, which reached a similar tipping point in its fiscal Q2 earlier this year. UMG’s revenues from streaming were up 33% year-on-year in the third quarter, compared to an 8% decline for download sales.
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Paul McCartney’s manager: majors mulling fairer digital deals
Major labels have been asking managers whether they should be striking “more equitable digital deals” via external consulting groups, according to veteran manager Scott Rodger, who handles Paul McCartney and Arcade Fire among other artists.
“You know, the major labels do this research, and I’m one of the guys they come to when they employ these consulting groups. You get asked: ‘Do you think we should be looking at doing more equitable digital deals?’,” he told Music Business Worldwide.
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AIM boss says majors ‘dreadfully wrong-footed’ by Apple Music
Indie body AIM’s boss Alison Wenham has criticised the major labels for agreeing to Apple’s original no-royalties plan for the three-month trial of Apple Music. “Why did they agree those […]