The music business year 2018 was shaped by the ongoing streaming boom. In April, Spotify has been listed as a stock market company and shortly thereafter the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported a 41.1 percent increase of global music streaming revenue to US $6.6bn for 2017. Music streaming has become the most…

April 3rd 2018 is a historic moment in the digitized music industry, when the Swedish music streaming company Spotify is listed at the New York Stock Exchange. Spotify’s stock exchange listing is not just a touchstone for the music streaming service’s business model, but for the entire recorded music industry that is back on a…

In its last annual report Warner Music Group (WMG) exhibited a total revenue of US $3.58bn – the highest since the recorded music company was sold by Time-Warner to the Investor Group in 2003. Although overall costs also increased to US $3.15bn (WMG 2017: 38-39), the operating income is remarkably high with US $222m (WMG…

On 24 January 2018 the Latin superstar Enrique Iglesias filed a lawsuit against Universal International Music for “systematically underpaying streaming royalties” (complaint, Enrique Iglesias vs. Universal International Music, January 24, 2018). The lawyers of Iglesias argue that Universal Music should have paid 50 percent of the net revenue from the streaming services. Instead Iglesias was…

Dear readers of music business research blog, The music streaming boom dominated 2017. Market statistics highlight that music streaming revenue has become the most important income stream for the phonographic industry. The US figures for 2016 highlight a tremendous shift from selling music (CDs and downloads) to accessing music (by streaming services). In the US,…

In collaboration with the Austrian and Viennese Chamber of Commerce an additional event of the 8th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2017 wil take place in Gewerbehaus of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (3., Rudolf Sallinger Platz 1) on September 13 from 19:00-21:00. After the book presentation “The Economics of Music” by Peter Tschmuck, Peter…

2016 is the pivotal year for the music streaming industry. After years of growth, we can expect a market consolation for the new few months with mergers, acquisitions and insolvencies. Thus, the question arises which music streaming services will survive that consolidation process. I try to assess who will be the winners and losers by…

Last year, I posted an analysis of the international music streaming for 2014 based on IFPI numbers. Since then the global streaming market was highly dynamic and therefore I updated my analysis and included also earlier data. In 2015 the global streaming revenue (subscriptions and ad-supported streaming revenue) increased by 42.5 per cent (IFPI 2016:…

The 6th Vienna Music Business Research traditionally start with the Young Scholars’ Workshop in the Large Conference Room of the Institute for Cultural Management and Cultural Studies (IKM) at 9:00am on September 29, 2015. Graduate and PhD students from Brazil, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, Norway and Poland will present their theses in a closed workshop to…

The 6th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2015 focus on “Financing Music in the Digital Age”. International experts and academics discuss new and alternative revenue sources for the music scene such as music streaming for the classic music business, crowdfunding and business angel funding. Christopher Widauer, Head of Digital Development at the Vienna State Opera,…

The 6th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2015 focus on “Financing Music in the Digital Age”. International experts and academics discuss new and alternative revenue sources for the music scene such as music streaming for the classic music business, crowdfunding and business angel funding. Christof Papousek, CFO of the Cineplexx International GmbH, will be joining…

The 6th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2015 focus on “Financing Music in the Digital Age”. International experts and academics discuss new and alternative revenue sources for the music scene such as music streaming for the classic music business, crowdfunding and business angel funding. Luke O’Shaughnessy, Secretary General of the Opéra de Dijon and Project Manager of The…

The Rethink Music initiative recently published a report on “Fair Music: Transparency and Money Flows in the Music Industry”. The report identifies barriers in the money flows to artist and states:”[O]nly a small proportion of the money beyond the initial recording advances ultimately makes its way to artists as ongoing revenue.” (Rethink Music, 2015: 3).…

Some artists have unveiled their royalties’ statements highlighting that just a small proportion of their income comes from music streaming services (e.g. cellist Zoe Keating in February 2013). However, the question remains open if and how the superstars benefit from shift to the music streaming business? In the following analysis the top superstars’ income from…

Music streaming is on the rise. In the recent IFPI report “Recording Industry in Numbers 2014” IFPI CEO Frances Moore is cited with “Streaming is now a mainstream part of the modern music industry.” (IFPI 2015: 5) Indeed, global subscription streaming revenue increased by 39.0 per cent and ad-supported streaming revenue by 38.6 per cent…

On June 26, 2015, the Internet platform “Debating Europe” of the Friends of Europe and the NGO Europe’s World, which is supported by the European Council and other European institutions the question “What would save the music industry from digital piracy?” was posed. I had the honor of starting the discussion on Skype. Find more…

The recently published Ernst & Young study that was commissioned by the French music industry body SNEP highlights the revenue split of a premium subscription of EUR 9.99 Spotify, Deezer and other comparable music streaming services. The study’s results confirm the conclusions drawn in the blog series “Is Streaming the Next Big Thing?” that –…