The biggest music industry news | April 2024
Image credit: Keagan Henman
The biggest news of the month for the music industry that you need to know whether you’re an artist or just a keen music streamer.
Spotify raise prices but plan to launch new subscription tiers
After years of the same subscription cost for Spotify Premium, they’ve now raised prices for the second time in a year. Premium cost just $9.99 for years but will now cost $11.99 a month, a price rise of $2 in the last year. However, Daniel Ek has revealed plans to offer a music-only tier which listeners will be able to subscribe to for a potentially cheaper price without any audiobook listening.
Rumours also suggest that Hi-Fi lossless audio may be coming as a paid add-on to Premium, instead of in a Supremium tier.
Music hits high notes around the world with a stellar 2023
More reports have come in revealing how the music industry boomed last year. Music streaming led the way around the world, accounting for 84% of the recorded music revenues in the US in 2023. Streaming subscriptions around the world grew by 11.2%, for a total of more than 500 million paying music streaming users around the world, according to the IFPI. That same report revealed that paid streaming subscriptions accounted for nearly half of the global recorded music revenues.
Independent artists continue to expand their presence in the global music industry. Indie artists in the UK celebrate their 6th year of growth. Meanwhile, independent music publishing revenues are reported to have grown by 16.8% in the latest report for 2022 representing growth for an often forgotten source of revenue.
Beyoncé and Taylor Swift go head-to-head for Spotify records
Possibly the world’s two biggest pop icons right now, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift both released new albums in the past month. Of course, streams went crazy. Beyoncé broke the record for the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 on Spotify with the release of ‘COWBOY CARTER’. However, Taylor swiftly dove in just weeks after to reclaim the record and some others too with the release of ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’.
Artists gain recognition with Groover + RouteNote partnership
Getting your music in front of the right people is the challenge to getting heard. Groover is platform that helps independent artists get connected with music curators, radio stations, and music professionals. RouteNote have partnered with Groover to offer their users an exclusive 15% discount to empower independent artists with both music distribution and promotion.
Q1 results show music streaming success to start the year
2024 is already a third of the way in (!) and as such, services have been revealing what their first quarter looked like. Deezer revealed a strong start with 15% year-on-year growth, driven by impressive partnership expansion. Spotify have had an even stronger start to 2024, reporting 20% overall revenue growth. Things are also looking up for YouTube, who saw a 21% year-on-year jump in ad revenue.
Look out Instagram, TikTok Notes is here
TikTok have a brand new app and it’s coming for Instagram in the way that they once did with Reels. Notes is an image sharing app that represents Instagram in many ways, though with it’s design differences. With a feed that places images next to each other and takes more of a vertical focus, it’s distinguished from Instagram though the idea is the same.
Deezer team up with indies for artist-centric royalties
Last year, Deezer announced their new royalty model. By taking away revenue from non-musical content and fraudulent streams, they propose to pay artists more. Their new model is currently in place in France with major labels Universal and Warner. Last month, they re-partnered with independent digital music licensing partner Merlin, bringing them under their artist-centric royalty model.
BandLab now has more than 100 million global users
BandLab represents a shift in the industry that sees music making become more accessible. It is the musical answer to the consumers-as-creators economy that has built video platforms like YouTube and TikTok and image apps like Instagram. They’ve now passed a significant milestone with 100 million worldwide users.
Amazon and Spotify bring AI in to power new playlists
AI is beginning to empower our music listening experiences. Spotify released their AI-powered playlists for users in the UK and Australia in April. Likewise, Amazon Music have unveiled Maestro, their AI playlist generator. Users can give prompts of what they’d like to listen to and AI will generate a thematic playlist to suit your desired mood or vibe.