Music News: Growth of Paid Downloads vs. Streaming, 2012 vs. 2011 - Page 2

Dust2

Quote:

Originally posted by Taylor fanboy

Good for the music industry!

The music industry is counting on subscription music to increase their revenue. Look like it could pay off.

http://www.mmail.com.my/story/music-...recovery-45441
Music industry finally on road to recovery

Quote:

A GLOBAL music industry that observers say has finally turned the corner and is moving towards recovery provides a more positive backdrop to the annual MIDEM trade fair that opens Saturday.

"I believe we can now say that the music industry globally is on the road to recovery and heading for growth for the first time since 1999," Frances Moore, CEO of the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), the body that represents the interests of the international recording industry, told AFP ahead of the four-day event.

"We may not get there this year, but the direction of travel is clear," Moore added, noting that every digital revenue stream, including music downloads, subscriptions, ad-revenues and other channels are all growing.

The vibrant, growing digital music sector, however, will only realise its full potential if copyright laws are protected, the IFPI boss cautioned.

The main driver helping fuel this turnaround in the music sector is the increasing popularity of music download and subscription services such as Deezer, MOG and Spotify, say industry executives.

"Download and subscription services are growing fast, driven by smartphones and tablets," Edgar Berger, President and CEO International of Sony Music entertainment, one of the world's largest record labels, told AFP.

This advance is also worldwide, Edgar stressed, noting that eight of the top 20 music markets are showing growth, and this is a group of countries that span all the continents.

"I'm extremely confident about the future development of the recorded music industry going into 2013," Edgar said.

Haunter

I buy all my music.

Dust2

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...ic-market-down

Quote:

Digital revenues rose 13% to 125 million Euros last year. Most of that gain came from a 50.1% rise in subscription revenue to 33.8 million Euros. Digital downloads rose 11.8% to 63 million Euros. A small part of the digital gain, 3.2 million Euros, came from ad-supporting streaming.

Physical sales declined 11.9% to 363.7 million Euros. Rights revenue increased 13% to 101 million Euros.

In France, subscription increased 50.1% from last year compare to 11.8% for digital downloads.

Subscription: 33.8 million euro (trade value) ---50.1% increase from 2011
Digital downloads: 63 million euro (trade value) --11.8% increase from 2011

I wouldn't be surprised if in 2-3 years, subscription surpasses Itunes/AmazonMP3 in France.

Dust2

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/19/40...-mobile-trials
Spotify pushing labels to lower costs, open up free service to phones

If the labels allow this, it could make Spotify much more popular.

But Spotify probably limit the free streaming on smartphone to like 12 hours a month. And decrease it by 1 hour per month.

1st month: 12 hours free
2nd month: 11 hours free
3rd month: 10 hours free
4th month: 9 hours free

etc...

Free users: Spotify lose money but it's a great promotional tool
Paid users: Spotify makes money from them (in a sense paid users are subsidizing the free users).

Dust2

Subscription Music

2010: 8.2 million paying subscribers
2011: 13.4 million paying subscribers (growth of 63%)
2012: 20.0 million paying subscribers (growth of 44%)
2013: ?
2014: ?
2015: ?
2016: ?

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...recorded-music

Quote:

- Subscription services saw a 44% rise in the number of fee-paying customers, with 20 million paying subscribers globally in 2012.

Eric.

Quote:

Originally posted by ManDown

Wow! It's great that everything is increasing. Imagine all of the illegal downloads that were stopped by Spotify and Pandora.

Way more would be stopped if the services weren't so limited. I know it's because of licensing agreements, but still.

I think the services should be open to paid subscription, but not free subscription to make up for the lack of licensing agreements if it's possible.

Dust2

Look like Google is getting into the subscription music game.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...ption-services
Warner Music Inks Deal With Google for Music Subscription Services

Quote:

Google is also in deep negotiations with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and other labels to nail down an agreement similar to the one it now has with Warner.

Google’s efforts to build an on-demand music service was first reported in February by the Financial Times. Fortune followed up with a report that detailed Google’s plans for two separate music services.

Google will be jumping into a fiercely fought market for on-demand music streaming. Spotify, Rhapsody, Muve Music, Slacker, Samsung Music Hub, Sony Music Unlimited and Rdio are among the current players slugging it out for dominance. And later this summer, Beats Electronics will re-launch a revamped MOG service, branded as Beats Music.

Google, however, will be coming to the party with several formidable advantages – YouTube and Android.

Its YouTube platform attracts 800 million unique viewers a month. That’s vastly more than the tens of millions of people worldwide who are estimated to be using on-demand streaming music services -- both free and paid. In addition, Google’s Android operating system powered 68.4% of all smartphones shipped globally in 2012, compared with 19.4% for Apple’s iOS, according to Strategy Analytics.

Dust2

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...ribers-at-sxsw

Quote:

According to an early CNET report on Tuesday, Ek plans to announce that Spotify now has six million paying subscribers worldwide, which is something, considering that you can also use it for free (with certain restrictions that vary by region). One million of those people started paying in just the past three months, so growth appears to be accelerating.

January, 2010:------------ 250,000 paying subscribers
March 17, 2010:----------- 320,000
July 20, 2010: ---------------- 500,000
December 8, 2010: ------ 750,000
March 8, 2011:--------------- 1,000,000
July 14, 2011: -----------------1,600,000
Sept 21, 2011: ---------------- 2,000,000
Nov 23, 2011: ------------------2,500,000
Jan 26, 2012: -------------------3,000,000
July 31, 2012:--------------------4,000,000
Dec 6, 2012: ---------------------5,000,000
March 12, 2013:------------------6,000,000 paying subscribers

DAMN. 1 million added in the last 3 months.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-14013_3-57...-apple-google/
Spotify's Daniel Ek: I don't worry about Apple, Google
As Google and others gear up to enter the streaming-music business, the Spotify founder says he's staying focused on bringing music to as many people as possible.

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If he isn't worry about Apple and Google, he isn't a good businessman. Whenever you get a new competitor, you should be worried especially when your competitors are two of the biggest companies in the world with more than $100 billion cash sitting in their balance sheet.

But he is putting on a brave face and it's good PR.

Dust2

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/41...-music-service

Amazon in talks with record labels about subscription music service

Dust2

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...-voice-as-part

Spotify Debuts First TV Commercial During NBC’s ‘The Voice’ As Part of $10M Ad Campaign

Quote:

Spotify could use the lead time to advertise itself now, with new streaming music services on the way from Google, Apple and, according to the Verge, Amazon and smartphone giant Samsung recently doubling the size of its Music Hub employees by end of the year to build out its own music platform. Ek discussed going head to head with his biggest competitors in a recent keynote interview at South by Southwest, where he said, “I’m not one of these people that believes the world will be ruled by a few companies like Apple and Google,” he said. “I think if you look at history you’ll see that the services and companies that have survived and thrived have been dedicated to doing one thing really well, whether it’s Netflix for movies or EA for games.”

Look like Spotify is trying to make a name among the average Americans before these competitors take the stage with their own version of Spotify

Apple
Google
Amazon
Samsung

Microsoft and Sony already debuted their on-demand service.

Dust2

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...ons-rising-but

Quote:

Revenues from subscription services and ad-supported streaming services grew 59% to $571 million from $360 million. The number of paid subscribers grew 86% to 3.4 million from 1.8 million (and 1.5 million in 2010). That 3.4 million figure is a weighted average number of subscribers during the year, not the number of subscribers at the end of the year (which was higher than 3.4 million).

Digital downloads had lower growth rates than subscription and streaming services but accounted for more revenue growth. Tracks and digital album sales combined to increase $235 million in 2012 compared to $170 million for subscription and streaming services. Track revenue grew just 7% while digital album revenue grew 13%.

2010: 1.5 mil
2011: 1.8 mil
2012: 3.4 mil