Hey everyone! I hope all is still going strong (as much as it can). We’re starting to see numbers from the music industry actors, giving some insights on how the business models are evolving and the music business’ reaction to this rocky year. And if you’ve been following me and the Weekly Roundups for a little while now, you know the importance of the development of new models in our industry for us. So let’s focus a bit more on it for this week.
#1. TikTok is pushing new models
Maybe not willingly, TikTok is pushing other actors to step up their game, as we’ve seen for the last few weeks in our Weekly Roundups. Right now, a few of their competitors are making moves towards offering similar services to their users. Snapchat is acquiring Voisey, the instrumental app to allow users to create their own tracks. To expect: auto-tune filters, uploads of new tracks by creators etc. The company is definitely following in TikTok’s footsteps, taking into account that music will be a big part of its evolution.
Another move from a direct competitor: Triller hired the music executive (from UMG) Tuhin Roy. This news arrives at a time when the rumor of an IPO is still well alive for the app. Triller is even involved in a publishing lawsuit, as we learnt earlier in the week, another topic their new hire could handle too. Things are moving fast, taking advantage of the fact that TikTok is still under the threat of a ban from the US. Which is actually revealing of another problem in Tech (and therefore music): the physical frontiers applying to digital services.
#2. Independent market models in China
Speaking of, the issue of growing a music business between several territories, and especially China, is not a new one. Thing is, the music market can be very different from the Western one. Although it seems like independent artists are on the rise, also on Chinese platforms.
Indeed, Tencent Music Entertainment and its main competitor NetEase revealed that the parts on self releases were way bigger. The two principal actors are now engaged in a fight for the independent artists market on the territory. As of today, Tencent claims to count almost 650 million active users, while NetEase announced 800 million subscribers (which doesn't mean they’re all active).
#3. Designing new models by Hipgnosis
On building new models, tough not to evoke Hipgnosis. To get a bit more information on how they work and to what extent, here is a full article on how Hipgnosis could be viable.
After a (pretty long) interview of the founder of the company, it clearly appeared that spreading new business models are at the center of the strategy for them. All in order to build a better remuneration for artists and songwriters, a better repartition thanks to a better evaluation of tracks. We can only recommend you to get into the details here.
#4. Music business recovery
Staying on the topic of remuneration and impact on people, the IFPI report came out this week. This report is based on data from 2018 and covers the EU and UK, allowing to give a deep understanding of the importance of the music business: around 2 million jobs, €9.7 billion worth of goods and services outside the EU (about half of generated by digital platforms and streaming) etc. All details can be found here.
Of course, right now all these data have been seriously impacted by the current crisis. The release has been accompanied by several demands for funds and help, for a recovery in the music industry.
#5. New models from Innovation
Tech helping music might sound a bit like self indulgence coming from us, but stay with me for a second. Music Week gathered a few highlights on how the pandemic has been impacting habits in the music industry: acceptance of livestream, remote work, new collaborations… Giving a positive touch to the current situation (which is obviously yet to resolve itself). They even realized a full report on Tech and Music, available to their subscribers (lucky you!).
This resonated with us, working to create a SaaS solution for record companies and music publishers to work remotely and efficiently manage rights, contracts and catalog. We also have been talking about remote work solutions with Reprtoir or the impact of innovation for the music business.
And we’re willing to do more, give us a call or book yourself a free demo to see how we can help you get up to speed and optimize your business!
