Music's Opportunity is Creation, Not Consumption

PLUS: Spotify adds merch & ticket visibility, Web3 streaming integrations & TikTok's new music features

Author

Rob Abelow
May 20, 2023

Welcome, artists & builders.

Each week, I cover new tools & strategies to form better connected audiences. Today we get into the future of music interactivity.

Inside Today’s Edition: #9

  • 💡 Music’s big opportunity

  • 🛠️ Spotify’s merch, ticket & lyric tools

  • 🗞️ What you missed in Web3, AI & artist resources

PS: You can grab my Web3 Music Toolkit — a curated list across the full workflow - by sharing the newsletter with 1 friend (your unique link is at the bottom of the newsletter).

Streaming is Maxed Out

Passive consumption has been pushed to its brink. Music’s new growth will come from interactivity, engagement, and creation itself.

Cracks have emerged in streaming’s low-cost, all-you-can-eat buffet. Growth is slowing & it’s not clear if the model is viable.

Streaming has 3 main growth levers:

  1. Subscriber growth in mature markets
    Not much left here. Which means we are ready for #2.

  2. Price increase in mature markets
    This helps, but likely 20-50% over time.

  3. Subscriber growth in emerging markets
    More room here, but revenue per subscriber is much lower.

This is all incremental. For recorded music to match gaming’s growth, we need to take a page from its book. It’ll come from music’s 2nd major wave of democratization.

Music’s big opportunity is creation.
Not consumption.

Everyone’s an Artist

The lines are about to get very blurry on creator vs. consumer. Think about this:

→ Apple Music has 90 million listeners
→ Bandlab has 60 million music creators

For every 3 Apple listeners, there are 2 Bandlab creators vying for their ear. That’s just 1 service! And Bandlab is growing 2x as fast.

Sources: Bandlab, Midia, Business of Apps

How many of TikTok’s 1.6 billion users will join these ranks with their upcoming AI tools to “significantly lower the music creation barrier”?

Or Google’s MusicLM? Or 100 others on the way.

7 Billion Audiences of One

These new creator-consumers will make music for themselves. Or their friends. This isn’t to become a star, it’s to have fun.

People will happily pay to interact with music. Build & generate from it. Share it. So long as its fun, easy, social & gamified.

Let’s learn from gaming. Create a world where users can not only engage, but also create, and they become invested in an experience that keeps them coming back.

Artists that present the best seeds & playgrounds will win.

Streaming consumption is maxed.
Interactivity & creation have just begun.

— Rob

Spotify Adds Ticket, Merch & Bio Visibility

It’s hard to connect with fans directly on streaming. These Spotify edits provide a better chance. Here’s how to set it up:

1. MERCH

Added to several more areas. You can only set it up with a Shopify integration.

  • Tag merch to albums & it shows up for every track.

  • Select as your artist pick. Think vinyl on release day.

  • Fans can now browse your full store with ‘See More’.

🧠 Shopify has many integrations. The starter plan is $5/mo.

2. TICKETS: 

Full event listings now appear on Now Playing & Artist page.

  • Add them through Songkick’s Tourbox

  • Spotify pulls from ticketing platforms, but this gives you full control.

🧠 Also upload to Bandsintown for full coverage. Use 1 to sync dates to your site.

3. LYRICS:

Now just under the play button. They are shareable & sync with the song.

  • Get verified on Musixmatch

  • Add, edit & sync your lyrics

🧠 These also go to Shazam, Google, Insta, Apple & more. It’s worth your time. Use the free option - which can be a pain to find.

4. BIO:

No longer buried 7 steps away. It’s right there under lyrics.

🧠 ~180 characters show as a preview. Make those count.

What You Missed

🤝 Web3 x Streaming Team-ups

  • Revelator & Tune Global bring NFT infra to streaming platforms.

  • Symphonic taps SHARE to distribute music on-chain.

Two interesting developments from builders featured in the toolkit pushing web3 releases into the ‘normal’ workflow.

🤖 Music x AI

  • HYBE K-pop artist MIDNATT uses AI to sing in 6 languages on new track.

  • Scammer sells fake AI-generated Frank Ocean songs for $13,000.

  • M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold calls AI ‘incredible tool’ for musicians.

  • Vice music critic reviews AI songs.

  • First official Grimes AI song drops. She thinks it’s a masterpiece & it lands New Music Friday.

⚒️ Artist Resources
👀 TikTok

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Talk next week,

Rob

Catch you on twitter, linkedin or lenster.

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