Tag: Will Page
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Aim publishes research on its ‘artist growth’ model

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Last week, British independent music body Aim held an online panel about the ‘artist growth’ model that it’s proposing as a way to increase streaming royalties for artists further down the earnings pyramid. Now it has made video of the event available, with panelists Will Page, David Safir and Aim boss Paul Pacifico moderated by Deviate Digital’s Sammy Andrews.

It’s a useful explanation of how the model uses ‘progressive scales’ to boost the earnings of the middle class (popularity wise) of artists, as well as a Q&A section where blunt questions (of the ‘isn’t this just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?’ variety) from viewers were addressed.

The research, commissioned by Aim from Safir and Page, analysed the potential effects of redistributing a slice of revenue from the top 20% of streamed tracks in the UK to the next 30%. “The problem we’re trying to look at is the massive concentration of wealth in the head of the snake, and how we’re trying to push that to the middle market to support more emerging and niche artists,” said Pacifico.

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Twitch Rockonomics study analyses mxmtoon, RAC and other artists

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Will Page, the former chief economist at Spotify and PRS for Music, has published a new study of ‘Twitch’s Rockonomics’ that includes case studies of the earnings and audience growth of six music artists on Amazon’s livestreaming service.

Page left Spotify at the end of 2019 and is now visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, as well as publishing his first book ‘Tarzan Economics’ earlier this month.

Twitch commissioned the study, which also draws on data from Midia Research – which was recently commissioned by Twitch for another report – MRC Data and Chartmetric. Twitch’s involvement may well influence the reaction to the study of rightsholders who have been attacking the company over licensing in recent times.

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The US music market isn’t yet at ‘peak streaming subscriptions’

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Is the biggest recorded-music market in the world nearing ‘peak streaming subscriptions’ for music? In an article for Billboard, former Spotify chief economist Will Page offers some reasons for optimism, even though there are now 110 million music subscribers in a country with 110m households.

For example, he notes that there were worries that Sweden and Norway were reaching their ceiling back in 2015, but since then their subscriber numbers have grown by 85% and 78% respectively.

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Why is the US share of global recorded music revenue growing?

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In 2011, the US accounted for 26% of global recorded music revenues. In 2019, that share had grown to 36% according to industry body the IFPI’s figures, despite that period covering considerable global expansion for music streaming services.

Why is the world’s biggest music market taking an even bigger share of the revenue? Former Spotify chief economist Will Page has some thoughts, published in an article on Billboard.

“One factor: The dollar has been strong, with the trade-weighted exchange rate (measured against a range of currencies) rising 30% from 2011 to 2019,” he wrote. “Also, the world’s second-biggest music market, Japan, hasn’t grown in size over the same four years, fueling America’s dominance. Nearly 70% of Japan’s recorded-music revenue still comes from CDs, but as the CD business struggles with the store closures and distribution issues posed by COVID-19, the United States could increase its share of the global pie even more.”

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Spotify study suggests $25.9bn global copyright value in 2016

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Spotify’s director of economics Will Page has published his latest study on the ‘global value of music copyright’, for 2016. The research adds together label, publisher and collecting-society revenues, then adjusts for ‘double-counting’ (revenues that would be counted twice across any of those categories) to produce a total figure for the industry.

And that is? According to the study, published by MBW, the global value of copyright in 2016 was $25.9bn, up from $24.4bn in 2015. That includes $14.8bn from labels, $2.2bn from publishers and $8.9bn from collecting societies belonging to the organisation CISAC – up 5.6%, 6.3% and 6.8% respectively year-on-year. “In past editions of this analysis, there was more variance in growth rates, yet now we see a rising tide lift all boats,” wrote Page.

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Spotify takes Dutch courage from Netherlands music growth

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Recorded-music spending grew by 11% in the Netherlands in 2015, while live spending rose by 14% – and Spotify says its growth in the country has played an important role.

The streaming service’s director of economics Will Page hailed the return to growth in consumer spending on recorded-music after 11 straight years of decline as “truly remarkable”, in his keynote speech at the FastForward conference in Amsterdam.

“Back in 2003, Dutch consumers spent €400m on recorded music, and they spent somewhere just under €300m on gigs. In the time that’s passed, that recorded spend has slumped to new lows, going down to about €200m and falling further still,” said Page.