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 stre...
As an artist, it's essential that you at least publish your song lyrics on Musixmatch, LyricFind, and Genius. Doing so can have several benefits: It increases the number of (streaming) platforms that display your lyrics - streaming services primarily use lyrics provided by Musixmatch and LyricFind. If your lyrics are not on LyricFind, your fans on those services that exclusively use LyricFind as the source for lyrics (and that is quite a few) will not see your (time-synced) lyrics. It enhances the listening experience for your fans - many listeners enjoy reading along with the lyrics as they listen to music, helping them remember the words and sing along. It increases the discoverability of your music - listing your lyrics can help people find your songs through search engines like Google and Bing, by showing up in search results for related topics. It generates additional songwriter royalties each time your song lyrics are displayed on a service or website. Songwriter royalti...
RouteNote is a game-changing platform for artists looking to get their music out into the world. With its cutting-edge technology and easy-to-use interface, RouteNote makes it simple for artists to distribute their music to a variety of popular streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. But RouteNote is more than just a distribution platform - it's a one-stop shop for all of an artist's music-related needs. Whether you're just starting out in the music industry or you're an established artist looking to take your career to the next level, RouteNote has the tools and resources to help you succeed. One of the standout features of RouteNote is its comprehensive royalty tracking system. Artists can easily see how their music is performing across various platforms and track their earnings in real time. This is a crucial aspect of the music industry, and RouteNote makes it easy for artists to stay on top of their finances and make informed decisions ab...
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