The biggest music industry news | July 2024
Image credit: YouTube Shorts
This summer we’re seeing independent music reign as streaming continues to grow and AI take a bigger place in the music world.
RouteNote artists can now start Spotify Countdown Pages
Countdown Pages are a fantastic way to build hype for an upcoming release. All artists on Spotify can now make use of these pages, which feature a timer ticking down to the moment of release. Countdown Pages also offer options for engagement through Clips, merch, and pre-saves.
Artists’ global radio plays added to Apple Music
Artists can now see where their tracks are being played on over 40,000 radio stations around the world. Apple Music have added Shazam data for radio stations that allows artists to easily see the reach their music is having on broadcasts globally. Radio data is available on Apple Music for Artists now.
Streaming continues to grow as independent music skyrockets
A new report from Luminate shows that global on-demand audio streaming has risen by more than 15% in the first half of 2024. As music streaming continues to grow year-on-year, so does the prevalence of independent artists and labels. Luminate found that of the artists receiving 1-10 million streams on services in the first half of 2024, an astonishing 61.5% were independent.
Spotify overtakes top record label as the most valuable music company
The shifting dynamics of the music industry continue as the world’s biggest music company is no longer a major label. Spotify overtook Universal Music Group (UMG) this month to become the world’s biggest music company. As music streaming grows in double digits, UMG’s H1 grew only 6.5% – revealing that growth is being led by artists beyond the world’s top label.
TikTok take on Shazam with ‘Sound Search’
TikTok have just launched their very own song-discovery feature ‘Sound Search’. It allows users to hum or sing to find a song. TikTok’s tool differs from competitors like Shazam and YouTube‘s Hum to Search as the results offer video content that uses the song. Users can use Sound Search by tapping the microphone icon in the search bar.
SoundCloud initiatives prevent artists having no plays
This year, SoundCloud have been on a mission to give all artists a chance to reach their first audiences. Led by their new global head of music Emmy Lovell, new features like First Fans ensure that artists reach their first 100 listeners. Their Buzzing playlists then help artists gaining traction to reach a wider audience. These features are available to artists on SoundCloud Next Pro.
YouTube and Spotify reveal continuous growth in 2024
The second quarter of 2024 has passed us by and seen impressive results from the titans of video and audio streaming. YouTube posted 13% year-on-year growth for ad revenue. Spotify revealed a 20% rise in revenue, becoming the most valuable music company in the world and making a profit as opposed to the same period last year.
YouTube Shorts look set to overtake TikTok in the U.S.
YouTube Shorts has been steadily growing since its launch in 2020. The platform took on the hugely successful TikTok as an alternative for short, vertical videos. Shorts now generates over 70 billion daily views and the latest data from Luminate shows that they are close to TikTok’s use by U.S. music listeners – set to overtake in the next year if their growth continues.
A bunch of new AI DJs step onto the scene
Spotify have led the way with their AI DJ, which is now available to millions more as they’ve released a Spanish language version. Now Deezer and YouTube Music are joining in the party with the launch of their own AI playlist generators. They allow users to create an input that the AI will use to produce a thematic playlist of music.