In 2021 and the first half of 2022, nearly all leading DSPs saw strong subscriber growth, particularly Chinese stores Tencent Music Entertainment and NetEase Cloud Music. While subscriber growth in 2021 was higher than in 2020, MIDiA reports slower growth from H1 2021 to H1 2022 as streaming matures in Western markets.There were an estimated 616.2 million subscribers across all services by 2022's midpoint. This represents an increase of 7.1% from the end of 2021, with an additional 42.1 million net subscribers. This figure is slightly lower than the 53.8 million net subscribers added in the first six months of 2021.In 2021, these paying users generated $12.9 billion in subscription-label trade revenue, a 23.1% increase over 2020. This is the first year in which revenue growth has outpaced subscriber growth, with global annual ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) rising 1.0% to $22.42.Unsurprisingly, Spotify remains by far the most popular service, with 187.8 million subscribers in Q2 2022. Despite this advantage, their market share has steadily declined from 33.2% in Q2 2018 to 30.5% in Q2 2022, owing to increased competition. Tencent Music Entertainment and NetEase Cloud Music are two of the leading Chinese music stores (where Spotify does not operate). TME surpassed Amazon Music Unlimited, the third-largest global DSP, in Q4 2021. According to MIDiA, TME has 82.7 million subscribers and a 13.4% market share as of Q2 2022. China is now the world's second-largest subscriber market, on track to surpass the United States.Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and YouTube Music are the second, fourth, and fifth most popular music services, respectively. Amazon Music Unlimited has 82.2 million subscribers as of Q2 2022, while YouTube Music has 55.1 million, with both services seeing share increases between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. These two services are currently growing at a faster rate than the overall market but at a slower rate. Apple Music continues to perform poorly. While they rank second with 84.7 million subscribers, their 13.8% market share is down 1.2% from Q2 2021.In a blog post, MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan closes with the following.
The global music subscriber market is approaching a pivot point, with the slowdown in mature, Western markets contrasting with more dynamic growth in other regions. It is realistic to assume that the global recession and the organic maturation of the global subscriber market will result in some slowdown of growth in 2023, even if the sector remains otherwise resilient. The slowing growth should be the catalyst for what needs to come next, especially in developed markets: unlocking growth pockets through differentiation. Western DSPs have managed to grow with largely undifferentiated product propositions. Music rightsholders should explore creative ways in which they can empower their DSP partners with differentiated content assets, enabling them to super-serve specific consumer segments and thus unlock extra growth within them. - Mark Mulligan, MIDiA
I came across a blog post by music producer and recording artist Matti Charlton where he evaluated SubmitHub, PlaylistPush, and Musosoup. His review caught my attention because I am familiar with all of these services and wanted to compare his findings (as artist) to my findings (as curator / promotional channel). I must admit that we share some similar thoughts about these services! This post includes some practical tips to help you make the best use of the opportunities that you may come across. (tl,dr:) I.m.h.o. the only service really worth the money is SubmitHub, but finding the right tastemakers on SubmitHub will take time (and money). UPDATE - January 22, 2023: I have added and commented on a response from Musosoup at the end of this post. SubmitHub basics There are various types of channels on SubmitHub. In essence, the channels break down into the following categories: Radio/continuous streaming - play your music on e.g. (Internet) Radio stations, YouTube live streams, etc.
Why would you want your lyrics to appear on as many services as possible? If the lyrics to a song are easily accessible, 88% of listeners will view them (e.g. by pressing an icon on a webpage or in an app) The addition of lyrics improves the listening experience. Listeners will be curious about what the artist is saying during live performances where artists are speaking / calling out to the audience (and are less audible). Law requires websites and services to pay royalties each time lyrics are displayed (songwriter royalties). With 88% of listeners viewing song lyrics, having your lyrics displayed on streaming services is a simple way to generate additional royalties! The process that is used to collect these royalties, also ensures that you receive royalties when your song is covered by another artist, when lyrics are used in books, sheet music, etc.. The steps to get your song lyrics on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. is relatively easy... and we have tools and guides to help you. The
Maybe you've heard this before... "I tried using Facebook ads to expand my Spotify, but it wasn't working for me. How can I grow the right way?" I personally don't like Facebook ads because I believe that Facebook is more concerned with making money for itself than with helping you. But Facebook is still where most of the 'eyes' are (including the eyes of your target audience), so that is where you need to increase visibility. So let's try to maximize every dollar we spend. Before I forget, don't 'boost' your posts on Facebook! 'Boosting' posts on Facebook is like flushing money down the toilet. Facebook just takes your money without any lasting results… Facebook has more than 10 campaign objectives that align with business goals, such as increasing sales, leads, brand awareness, and more. Boosted posts are only optimized for engagement which has no correlation to growing sales or brand awareness among other goals. They'll get
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