And here we go again! Let’s start the year right with the unmissable predictions and some insights to keep in mind.
#1. Predictions for 2023 anyone?
Let’s get it out of the way: predictions for the year to come in the music industry are starting to flourish, so we decided to take a look at the ones from Music Business Worldwide.
5 statistics that could really impact the future development of our industries are gathered in this article. From the fact that only 5% of Warner Music Group’s annual recorded music (physical and digital) revenue were generated by their Top 5 artists (compared to 15% the decade before) to the infamous 100 000 new tracks on streaming platforms every day, a lot is to be considered heading into the new year!
#2. The CRB gave its greenlight for songwriter streaming royalties
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has stated the new agreed upon rate for streaming mechanical royalties among streaming bodies. Now, the mechanical royalties rate has been raised up to about 15% for songwriters. This rate will be applied from 2023 to 2027, and will be revised after.
This is overall good news for the US. Because for now, the agreement is only active in the US, but there’s no doubt that it will have repercussions in the rest of the industry pretty soon.
#3. Africa at the center for the future of music
There’s no denying the fact that African music has been on the radar of all music executives for a few years now. And it’s starting to show, as Quartz shows with a lot of tangible examples.
African music has earned significant popularity in the global entertainment market in recent years, with increasing numbers of Afrobeats artists making US summer hits, African artists being signed by global media houses at a rapid pace, and African music going viral on TikTok.
Streaming data shows a significant increase in the consumption of African music, with major record labels such as Warner, Universal Music Group, and Sony also tapping into the African music market by signing major deals with African artists and working more closely with African labels to develop the next generation of stars. The main issue now being the structuration of the music industry in Africa, making sure that artists are able to be paid fairly, etc. A lot has yet to happen, but it will surely be an interesting development.
#4. The importance of data analysis for artists
It feels like we’ve been saying this for quite a while now, but it’s always good to have a refresher from time to time. Forbes goes back to the importance of looking at data for artists, now that the creator economy is apparently here to stay (and grow).
This takeaway comes with the news that YouTube Music has partnered with Feature.fm to provide artists with access to data reporting on streams from both YouTube Music and YouTube, and to offer a "pre-save" feature that allows fans to save preferred music on streaming platforms.
The partnership will allow artists to make more informed marketing decisions and to direct fans to various promotional tools, including merchandise and NFT sales. Studying data has to become an easier and more recurrent habit for all content creators online, including music creation for these platforms.
#5. Some news on the Majors against Yout
Back in 2020, the music industry major labels with the RIAA had started a lawsuit against stream-ripper company Yout. There has been a lot of back and forths since then, and today Yout seems to be in the position of losing. Digital Music News summarized the case for you right here. But it’s worth noting that other companies working on similar offers have ceased their activities once the RIAA sued Yout.
