Spotify Hits 20 Million Monthly Users and Could be on Track for 8 Million Paid Users 1 Year From Now

When Facebook flicked the switch on stage two of its Socially Optimized Web Strategy at f8 it was clear that the social network had just found an effective means of embedding itself further into all of our digital lives, by making itself the universal content dashboard.  What wasn’t so clear at that time was quite [...]

Introducing Media Industry Blog

I’m excited to announce that today I have launched a new sister blog, Media Industry Blog. I’ll still be posting just as frequently on here about Music Industry issues, but on Media Industry Blog I’m going to start exploring in more detail some  of the non-music specific issues I write about on here, such as [...]

The Music Format Bill of Rights

Today I have published the latest Music Industry Blog report:  ‘The Music Format Bill Of Rights: A Manifesto for the Next Generation of Music Products’.  The report is currently available free of charge to Music Industry Blog subscribers.  To subscribe to this blog and to receive a copy of the report simply add your email address [...]

The Digital Music Year That Was: 2011 in Review and 2012 Predictions

Following the disappointment of 2010, 2011 was always going to need to pack more punch.  In some ways it did, and other ways it continued to underwhelm. On balance though the stage is set for an exciting 2012. There were certainly lots of twists and turns in 2011, including: disquiet among the artist community regarding digital pay-outs, [...]

Ecosystems In The Age Of The API

Walled gardens, Ecosystems, Platforms, call them what you will, but the mechanisms through which our digital content experiences are managed have evolved much over the last 15 years. In the early days of the web, ISPs tried to control our entire online lives by building proprietary walls around users.  These so-called Walled Gardens were exemplified [...]

Is Digital Music the Next Eurozone Crisis Waiting To Happen?

Much of the contemporary debate about digital music’s financials centres around perceived inequities in artist pay outs, particularly from streaming services.  These are very valid concerns and I continue to argue for an honest and transparent debate.  However there are two equally worrying issues: the sustainability of the stores and services themselves and the class [...]

Just How Important Do You Think iTunes Actually Is?….

I’ll let the chart do most of the talking. The key takeaway  is that two of the oldest models in the digital marketplace (radio and retail) dominate in terms of users.  Persistence certainly pays off for Pandora and Apple. The iTunes Store is of course more important than Pandora for music industry revenue as its [...]

Why iTunes Isn’t a Digital Vampire

Pete Townshend, guitarist from The Who, has called iTunes a ‘Digital Vampire’.  As much as the claim makes for nice Halloween-friendly headlines, it is misplaced and poorly informed criticism. In a BBC Radio 6 lecture, Townsend went on to question whether in fact iTunes should “provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose [...]

The Awkward, Unanswered Questions That Led to Coldplay’s Spotify Embargo

Coldplay have opted to not have their latest album Mylo Xyloto made available on streaming services…all of them, though of course Spotify is the core motive for this move.  It is yet another thrust of the wedge which is inserting itself between the streaming service and artists. The download / streaming revenue disparity Coldplay – [...]

The Innovation Files. Part 1: Rates Of Innovation

[This is the first in a series of posts addressing innovation within the music industry.] Innovation is a much overused and often misused term, yet when considered in its truest sense it is arguably the single most important issue that the music industry must address if it is ever going to rediscover long term, sustainable [...]