Music Tomorrow’s Post

The music industry is changing, and fast. Streaming platforms helped democratize music distribution, but they've also made fan relationships feel distant and transactional. Fans want connection, and artists need control. This is where the fan economy is stepping in to rewrite the rules. Artists today are shifting their focus to direct-to-fan monetization—pre-releases, exclusive content, and personalized experiences. Why? Because superfans drive revenue more than millions of casual listeners. 💡 This is exactly the gap we're bridging with FanFliQ. 🚀 Artists can now build their own branded app—no middlemen, no distractions. They can engage directly with fans through notifications, emails, and exclusive posts. And most importantly, they can monetize exclusivity—whether it’s a new track, a behind-the-scenes moment, or early access to tickets. The future isn’t just about streaming; it’s about creating intimate, loyal communities where artists thrive and fans feel valued. FanFliQ is here to lead that charge. If you’re an artist, creator, or agency, let’s talk about how we can take your fanbase to the next level. 🎤🔥 #FanEconomy #MusicIndustry #FanFliQ #ArtistsEmpowered #DirectToFan 4o

Is it time for a resurgence of the independent tastemaker? A few days ago, my business partner Rob called me, excited about something we haven’t seen much of lately—he’d found a user on Spotify who was curating incredible playlists that aligned perfectly with his taste. For the first time in a while, he was discovering new tracks and artists he hadn’t heard before. This kind of discovery used to be the norm, but it’s now buried deep within the DSPs, hidden away in favour of curated, homogeneous, and hit-based playlists owned by the platforms. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when great radio programming played a major role in music discovery, aside from a few standout stations like BBC 6 Music this has disappeared to the wayside. In the early days of streaming, user-generated playlists from tastemakers were crucial for uncovering new music. But as DSPs took full control of their “browse” sections, they pushed out user-generated content in favour of their own selections, giving themselves more control (and potentially more leverage over the labels) on what gets surfaced. The result? We’ve lost the democratisation of tastemakers. The platforms don’t really have a community element anymore, and it’s difficult to know who has great taste and curates interesting content. Discovery is now a matter of luck, not design. For once, I’m advocating a look back at what we once had. Why don’t we celebrate the incredible tastemakers still on these platforms? Let’s surface their playlists, reward them for their efforts—whether through badges, early access to content, or other perks—and reintroduce the serendipity and excitement that comes with true music discovery. The best music experiences come from the unexpected, and user-generated playlists are one way to make that happen again. What do you think—should DSPs revive the role of the tastemaker and support user-generated playlists to aid discovery? #MusicDiscovery #Tastemakers #StreamingInnovation #FanEngagement #MusicIndustry #DigitalTransformation Pete Downton, Devraj Sanyal, Andy Carne, Ed Newton-Rex, Bill Gagnon, Nicholas Osborne, Ty Roberts, Angela Lopes, Angel Gambino, Mike Biggane, Gemma Gilday, Raoul Chatterjee, Dion Singer, Carlotta De Ninni, Linda Walker, Nina Hansdotter Usher, Neil Gaffney, Ben Jones , Rob Ryan, Jay Katsuyama, Robin Slade, Diverge, Katrina Hobbs, Imogen Heap, Olivier Robert-Murphy, Ross Foster, Slawomir Sajdak, Michael Nash, Holger Christoph, Paul Firth

For today's 'let's quantify $greed' presentation, our case study highlight's #Spotify The Big Green Circle has made plenty of green for Spotify #CEO #DanielEk over the past 12 months, with four separate stock sales netting about #345million since last July. This led royalty accountant #HunterGiles to wonder, how many streams would it have taken for Ek to make the same amount of money through his own platform? #Giles and the team at the #InfiniteCatalog newsletter used a “#generous” estimate of $.003 per #stream, as well as assuming that the #artists #own their #publishing #rights and #masters, which is rarely the case. In order to make $345 million in one year, an artist would need #115billion stream equivalents in 12 months — 15 billion more than Spotify’s most-streamed artist, #Drake, has put up in his entire career.... https://lnkd.in/g6DC4QVN

Because of the DSP pay models, including Spotify’s recent changes that now require a threshold before paying royalties on sound recordings, modified audio is able to steal significant streams and divert revenue from the proper rightsholders. Learn about the issue in our latest blog from Kevin Casini: https://lnkd.in/gJxTah75

Spotify has nailed it with these ads. it is simple and has everything to make it viral, memorable, and fun to watch. Liked especially the fusion of lip-sync of the song playing and the gesture/expression during the situation. https://lnkd.in/g9CJXR8g #viral #Branding #spotify

For today's 'let's quantify $greed' presentation, our case study highlight's #Spotify The Big Green Circle has made plenty of green for Spotify #CEO #DanielEk over the past 12 months, with four separate stock sales netting about #345million since last July. This led royalty accountant #HunterGiles to wonder, how many streams would it have taken for Ek to make the same amount of money through his own platform? #Giles and the team at the #InfiniteCatalog newsletter used a “#generous” estimate of $.003 per #stream, as well as assuming that the #artists #own their #publishing #rights and #masters, which is rarely the case. In order to make $345 million in one year, an artist would need #115billion stream equivalents in 12 months — 15 billion more than Spotify’s most-streamed artist, #Drake, has put up in his entire career.... https://lnkd.in/gK9iScRh

We just published a blog post on the upcoming changes to Spotify's royalty model 💰 You'll find varied perspectives from the CREATe team (including mine 👀 ), examining the implications for artists, and the broader creative industries 🎸 #SpotifyRoyaltyChanges #MusicIndustryInsights #DigitalEconomy

Spotify’s market value has skyrocketed, now worth double Universal Music Group’s. Universal Music Group and Sony Music own billions in Spotify shares, but they’ve yet to sell leaving artists eagerly waiting for their promised payouts. Check out this article to explore how this could reshape the music industry! David Philp #MusicIndustry #Spotify #Streaming #ArtistRights #BusinessTrends

Universal Music Group sees a future where 1 in 5 streamers pays for a 'super-premium' tier (and 3 other things we learned from UMG's Q1 earnings call) MBW Reacts is a series of analytical commentaries from Music Business Worldwide written in response to major recent entertainment events or news stories. #Universalmusicgroup #musicstreaming #superfans

Luminate (formerly Neilsen) has just releases their Midyear Music Report for 2024. #Luminate provides data and #analytics services on the #musicindustry and other #entertainment content and providers across the globe.   This Midyear Music Report (which will require some data sharing in order to access) is a full on interactive display of music use, services and consumer habits from the past six months, and it covers (... get this) over 23 trillion points of data. data points. Spotify, Deezer, TikTok, YouTube and all the well known players are covered. Social media, content creation, audience building, #liveperformance, physical media, fan engagement are all in here as well. #Radio, retail, #livestreaming, merch, #AI and ticketing get covered as well. Check it out. https://lnkd.in/eJSN-tac #musicbiz #musicindustrynews #musictech #musictechnology