Spotify Continues to Lead the Global Streaming Market, with Tencent Music Rising to Third Place Thanks to Strong Growth from Chinese DSPs MIDiA just published their annual music subscriber market share report, analyzing 23 music streaming services across 33 markets, as of the end of Q2 2022. You can purchase the full report here or view the highlights in Mark Mulligan’s blog post. Image Credit: MIDiA 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...

Music Business Worldwide's latest annual Yearbook , which compiles some of our most interesting interviews with global executives from across the prior 12 months, is digitally available for all of you to read and download here now. Although this yearbook is not specifically aimed at the Christian genre, the interviews are quite interesting. Maybe you will have some time during the holiday season to read through this yearbook. Click the link to read the online version of the Yearbook featuring interviews with the likes of Julie Greenwald (Atlantic), Jay Marciano (AEG), Lex Borrero (NEON16), Larry Mestel (Primary Wave), Dominique Casimir (BMG), Swizz Beatz , Starrah , and many more... (The MBW Yearbook in association with Centtrip)

I have been a big fan of Behringer equipment for many years. Some of the advantages that really got me hooked on using Behringer gear for live performances include the following: Behringer equipment is generally inexpensive and provides good value for money. This is critical for small touring bands with limited budgets for gear and a desire to maximize their investment.   Behringer manufactures a wide range of audio equipment, including mixers, amplifiers, and speakers. This means that small bands can easily find the equipment they need to create a fully functional live sound setup. Behringer equipment is lightweight and compact, making it simple to transport and set up at various locations. This is especially important for small touring bands who need to move their equipment quickly and efficiently.  Many Behringer products feature simple, user-friendly controls that make adjusting levels and settings during a live performance a breeze. This is especially important for s...

Because Spotify is the world's largest streaming platform, it's no surprise that scammers have made a business out of taking advantage of unsuspecting musicians.  In this blog post, I'll break down the factors that influence playlist quality, additional factors that you may have access to (e.g. Spotify for Artists), and aggregated patterns/trends that are common among fake playlists. Vanity Indicators Followers, playlist descriptions, "Discovered On" presence, and so on are examples of forward-facing indicators. Because of the importance of these indicators, many people think they're a good measure of the quality of a playlist. The ratio of profile followers-to-playlist followers At least one profile follower for every 100 playlist followers is a healthy ratio. This growth is due to traffic over time or the popularity of the so-called 'follow-gate' services used by some playlist curators.  You should be extremely cautious of any curator that has a larg...

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 ...

Music Connection is one of my 'go-to' sources for Industry Contacts. They have grown from a popular print publication into a spectrum of products and services that address the wants and needs of musicians, the music tech community, and industry support services. Music Connection just published the November '22 version of the Directory of Music Publishers. The major and indie publishers in this MC directory promote, exploit and collect payments for their writers’ music. The data in this directory is supplied by the listees.  Here is the link to download the updated  Directory Of Music Publishers :  https://www.weekly-bulletin.com/pdf/industrycontacts/Nov22_Publishers_Guide.pdf More guides can be found below... Just click on the image/title to open the corresponding PDF file. Directory Of Mastering Studios Directory Of Film/TV Music Supervisors & Post-Production Directory Of Rehearsal Studios Directory Of Gear Rentals Directory Of Managers & Booking Agents Dir...

Benefits of leaving your comfort zone 😀 TikTok  is much more than 'just' a social media phenomenon. TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that allows users to create and share 15-second videos, on any topic, and has become is a must-have marketing tool for musicians and record labels. Songs that have been out of the mainstream for decades can also rise up organically on TikTok. It's become a platform that's fueling massive music success. In fact, major labels are now using TikTok metrics to assess the potential of a new artist or upcoming release. As a result of TikTok music promotion activities, more and more artists are seeing significant increases in streams on other platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, as well as success in traditional media. You've most likely heard Lil Nas X's " Old Town Road Remix " several times. For the better part of 2019, the song's viral moment was unavoidable. However, before riding his way into the spotlight,...