Yesterday I wrote an article for Musically, a digital media and music consultancy. It went out on their subscription service, so I will share the article with you here and for those of you in a rush here were the key points that I was making:
Music is becoming social: Social Media is much more than just the an inspiration system it is the future of music listening.
Streaming over social media platforms will become the dominant way of accessing music: over half of YouTube streams are music videos – estimated 500m streams a day!
The rise of music discovery and recommendation systems based on consumer reviews, listening and recommendations e.g Finetune, iTunes Genius, iLike etc will become the dominant music delivery system
Community has always been massively important in music social media is an extension of that
The future of music is niche. People can connect around very niche music tastes. The economics of the web mean that if you collect these niches together they become a big business
The billboard model is over as social media connects you with music of any point in time. The web is a database of all of music history and back catalogue has the same value as a new releas
The rise of streaming music, undermines the need for physical ownership. This is why piracy is falling, not because of acts of the music industry or a rise of digital sales – it’s just easier to stream it
This means the end of big music movements – no more punk, acid house etc its too fragmented and new no longer has value.
Social Music - Full Article
Just as we were getting used to digital music replacing CDs, along come social networks, blogs and video sharing sites, bringing another revolution in the way we find music, and more importantly the way we listen to it.
Music has always been a social medium best enjoyed with other people, so it’s no surprise that it’s central to people’s Facebook conversations, Twitter posts and YouTube videos. However, social media is much more than just the latest trendy marketing channel. It’s a source of inspiration for music, and it’s the distribution channel and point of sale.
You can read about a new band on MySpace, find the back catalogue on Last.fm, stream the videos on YouTube, and click on an iTunes link in a blog post to buy the track. Social media connects you directly with music, and increasingly dominates the way we listen. The music itself is becoming social.
Social media platforms are now the first point of call when it comes to finding new music. A recent Universal McCann study: ‘When Did We Start Trusting Strangers?’ found that 57% of regular web users have talked about music online, while 49% have sourced information on new music before buying it.
Music recommendations are also moving faster as the size of our networks explode. The average 16-24 year-old Facebook user has more than 250 friends – a massive increase in the size of our networks. We maintain contact with people for much longer – schoolfriends are now digital friends for life whether you like it or not – and we interact with them much more regularly. Consequently, music recommendations spread further and faster, and increasingly drive our music tastes.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Listening habits, ratings and favourites lists are creating the next generation of social music platforms. Finetune recommends music based on listeners’ behaviour. Muxtape (before it got shut down) let people share their mixtapes with strangers, while iLike analyses your music listening and recommends tracks based on what people with similar tastes listen to. And there are hundreds more social music services where these came from.
Social media is also creating community around music. Sites like Last.fm, MySpace and hundreds of thousands of music message boards connect music fans no matter how obscure their tastes. Social media platforms are also becoming our primary way of listening to music. More than half of all video views on YouTube are music videos – around 500 million streams a day. YouTube, along with MySpace, Last.fm and others, is becoming an instant jukebox for music history. And it’s not going away.
What does this mean for the music industry? It’s changing people’s attitudes towards ownership of music: many would now rather stream music than own it. In the age of instant access via social media, ownership is not important – a far cry from the days of the LP and CD.
The rise of streaming is why music piracy is declining. The system that provides easiest access always wins. In the day of DRM-laden digital downloads, piracy won. Now it’s the one-click-to-listen streaming services which are winning. In 2009, YouTube is easier than LimeWire
Social media is a massive opportunity for the music industry to build fanbases and drive revenue, if approached in the right way. Firstly, the industry must embrace the music recommendation platforms, from YouTube to Last.fm to Finetune. Your music content should be officially available on all of these platforms, as if you don’t add it, a fan will. These sites are a massive opportunity to drive interaction with artists.
Secondly, build communities, ideally inside the major social media sites rather than hidden away on a band’s website. Whether it’s a Facebook fan page, a Twitter feed, or an official band page on YouTube, remember to reward members of the community with news and content. These communities maintain interest in a band, and drive sales and recommendation.
Thirdly, embrace consumer creators. If people are talking about your acts on blogs or social networks, reward them with content, inside knowledge or invites to secret gigs. If they love your music, they’ll quickly shout about it. Fourthly, adopt the new revenue models offered by social media, from advertising to content syndication to ringtone sales. Social media is also about driving interest and community to fuel sales of gig tickets and merchandise.
Fifth, celebrate niche. Niche is the future, and the global nature of social media means that any artist can maintain a fanbase. Collect these niches together, and you have a significant revenue stream. Finally, move away from the billboard mentality. The biggest opportunity for the music industry is its massive back catalogue of music, which can be promoted and monetised through social music in the same way that new music can be.
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March 11th, 2009
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