Reservoir generated $35.5m in calendar Q4 2023, up 19% YoYThe company has raised its outlook for full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA, in the wake of "strong revenue growth"
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Spotify paid the music industry $9 billion in 2023Apparently, passing 602 million monthly active users was not the only big stat Spotify wanted to share this week. Two days after a solid report to investors that sent its stock up 8%, Spotify announced it had paid more than $9 billion to musicians and the music industry last year, its highest payout ever...
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What Was AI Made For? AI’s Place in the Music IndustryJoseph Perla, the Founder & CEO of Hangout FM by Turntable Labs, cuts through the clutter to offer a music tech insider's look at the good and the bad of music AI...
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13 Social Media Tips for Musicians [Bobby Borg]If your social media efforts have yet to be the fruit you'd hoped for, these 13 tips from Bobby Borg are the perfect place to start...
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Music subscriber market shares 2023: New momentumWith UMG leading the charge to reshape the music industry into a more label-friendly form, 2023 may, with hindsight, go down as the year before everything changed. Whatever lies ahead though, new models will take time to deliver benefits. Music subscriptions are therefore going to remain the bedrock of music rightsholder revenues for the foreseeable future. So, it is a good thing that music subscriptions had such a good year in 2023.

As of Q3 2023, there were 713.4 million music subscribers globally, which was 90 million up on the 623.4 million one year earlier in Q3 2022. This matters for two reasons:

We are already nearly three quarters of the way to having one billion music subscribers globally. That is no small achievement. For context, as recently as five years ago, we had only just passed the quarter of a billion subscriber mark

The 90 million subscribers added in the 12 months to Q3 2023 was more, yes more(!), than the 83.5 million added one year earlier. In fact, the number added was nearly as many as those added in 2020. Not bad for a maturing category with key markets hitting near-saturation

However, there is a bit of a problem with looking at the global market: it is increasingly no longer a global market, but instead, one of two halves: the West and the Global South, with each region throwing off dramatically different metrics and growth narratives.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the market share rankings:

Spotify dominated the global music subscriber base in Q3 2023 with 31.7% market share. More than that, it actually increased its share from 0.4 points from Q3 2022. So, for all the flak Spotify has thrown at it, it outgrew the market in 2023. Newer, emerging market territories were central to this growth, but it was Spotify’s traditional heartland (North America and Europe) that drove the majority (59%) of its subscriber growth. Compare and contrast this with the all-DSP picture, where North America and Europe drove just 29% of subscriber growth, with Asia Pacific accounting for nearly two thirds of all non-Western subscriber growth

China, a market in which only Apple of the Western DSP operates, underpins this non-Western growth, and the clearest manifestation of this is Tencent Music Entertainment (TME). With 102.7 million subscribers in Q3 2023, TME represents 14.4% of all global subscribers, despite this being an effectively China-only number. NetEase Cloud Music (6.1% share and China-only) and Yandex (3.4% share and Russia-only), further represent the dynamic growth from regions where Western DSPs largely do not operate. This is the new, bifurcated nature of the global music subscriber market

Apple Music (12.6%), Amazon Music (11.1%) and YouTube Music (9.7%) represent the remainder of the leading Western DSP pack. Along with Spotify, these three DSPs represent 65% of the global market, but only 59% of 2023 growth. Western DSPs are still the core of the market, but they are collectively losing share. But, even within these four, there is a diverging picture, with YouTube Music and Spotify gaining share in 2023 while Amazon and Apple lost share. Between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023, Spotify added more subscribers than all three other leading Western DSPs combined

2023 was a strong year for music subscriptions, delivering more growth than perhaps had been expected in such challenging macro-economic and geo-political circumstances. Even North America and Europe grew slightly faster in 2023 than in 2022. But, as commendable as squeezing more growth out of otherwise mature markets is, the inescapable paradigm shift is the emergence of the Global South as the growth driver of tomorrow’s music subscriber base.

Want even more detail? Check out the full music subscriber market shares report and data set, with data for more than 20 DSPs across more than 40 territories, with data for every quarter from Q4 2015 to Q3 2023.

For more info email stephen@midiaresearch.com

WMG has strongest quarter ever, tips 10% layoffs, Uproxx & HipHopDX sale to invest $200M in core music businessWarner Music Group just announced its strongest quarter ever, with revenue rising 17% for the period ending Dec. 31, 2023, to $1.75 billion...
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Spotify [NYSE: SPOT] stock up 8% in the last two daysSpotify stock closed Tuesday at $231.92, up $8.67, a gain of 3.88%. Earlier in the day NYSE: SPOT was up as much as 8.64% after the streamer delivered a strong Q4 2023 report.
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Warner Music Group to cut a further 10% of workforce, 600 jobs to go, in move to ‘free up more funds to invest in music’Robert Kyncl confirms WMG is exiting its owned and operated media businesses, including Uproxx and IMGN
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Why indie record labels are backing Universal Music Group’s action on TikTok.Dr Richard James Burgess MBE on why A2IM and its labels are supporting Universal's stance on the matter
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35% of top TikTok tracks were removed by UMG, but fans find workaroundsSeventeen of Billboard's TikTok Top 50 Chart tracks are no longer available after licensing talks between Universal Music Group and the social video app failed last week...
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Tool's Adam Jones Can't Do Without His Gibson Les PaulTool guitarist Adam Jones told us about his love for his '79 Les Paul.

Adam Jones: It's complex because I'm very picky about what I use. I use multiple amps. I have a couple of different guitars that have different tones. I definitely have my pedals that I use. I guess my guitar is especially a piece of me. I have a '79 Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst.

The tone it has throughanalog equipment is incredible. I think fast and easy and convenient is kind of the way everyone goes and I do it myself. I'm a victim of it. But there's so much digital equipment out there and people just plug in any guitar and then, 'Oh, well, you can make it sound good. You don't need to be fussy about other stuff.'

But to me, that doesn't sound good. It's the same sound. It just sounds weak and farty. I could go off about equipment for hours. But yeah, my guitar. I mean, I could pick up any guitar and jam with people. But, you know, when I actually play our Tool songs, I just I love my weighted guitars.

Tool performs on Wednesday, February 14 and Thursday, February 15 at the Crypto.com Arena.

(Photo by Travis Shinn)

The Lion King at Segerstrom Center for the ArtsFor more than 20 years, the North American touring productions of The Lion King have beenseen by over 21 million theatergoers. Having already played more than 9,000 performances inover 90 cities across North America, The Lion King now returns to Costa Mesa, CA at theSegerstrom Center for the Arts.

The production features Peter Hargrave as “Scar,” Gerald Ramsey as “Mufasa,” Mukelisiwe Goba as “Rafiki,” Nick Cordileone as “Timon,” Nick LaMedica as “Zazu,” John E. Brady as “Pumbaa,” Darian Sanders as “Simba,” Khalifa White as “Nala,” Forest VanDyke as “Banzai,” Martina Sykes as “Shenzi” and Robbie Swift as “Ed,” with “Young Simba” alternating between Mason Lawson and Julian Villela and the role of “Young Nala” alternates between Jaxyn Damasco and Aniya Simone.

Photo-by-Matthew-Murphy

Now spanning three decades since the original 1994 animated film, the legacy of The Lion King--story, music, performances, adaptations--transcends generations. What is so unique to experiencing the Lion King musical live and in-person, is that the audience is transported to the Sahara and Pride Rock through the scale of its sets, beauty and artisanship in the costumes, and especially the authenticity of the African inspiration with additions of traditional songs chanted in Swahili.

From Rafiki's opening call to usher in "The Circle of Life," the theater welcomes the animals: puppeteered gazelles, antelopes, flying birds, stilt-driven giraffes and the multi-manned (though the cast is largely balanced and diverse) elephants, all entering from every aisle to see the presentation of protagonist Simba. If lucky enough, try to select a seat near an aisle to fully appreciate the details of the animal characters who will sing and interact as they make their way to and from the stage. The humanity under the masks is what keeps The Lion King compelling and timeless.

Photo-by-Deen-van-Meer

Photo-by-Joan-Marcus

In Costa Mesa, The Lion King will play Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at2:00 PM and 7:30 PM, and Sundays at 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM.

Tickets are available at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts Box Office, by calling (714) 556-2787 Monday-Friday 10 AM to 5 PM, or at SCFTA.org.

Photo-by-Matthew-Murphy

Spotify’s spat with Apple, its new deal with Joe Rogan and further cost-cutting: 3 things we learned on the company’s latest earnings callSpotify would be experimenting with a variety of payment models, were it not for the Apple Store’s so-called “app tax,” Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek said on the company’s latest earnings call. Asked whether Spotify was looking to move beyond its “all-you-can-eat” pricing model – i.e., a monthly flat fee for access to the … Continued
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Four big music takeaways from Spotify’s Q4 earnings callWhile Spotify’s Q4 earnings call focused more on podcasts, audiobooks, and bottom-line numbers than music, there were still some critical music-related takeaways. MORE: Spotify passes 602 Million Monthly Active Users. Continue reading
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The music sync industry is headed for an iceberg. It needs an upgrade.Sync veteran Tom Stingemore on why his industry is operating inefficiently and needs to change
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