admin
Fri, 10/14/2022 - 17:40
Edited Text
Case Study
Streaming Wars Continue*
“Amazon sells Prime; Apple sells telephones and iPads; Spotify, they’re going to have to figure
out a way to get that audience to buy something else.”1
Jimmy Iovine, Apple Music
April 3rd - the New York Stock Exchange woke up to a unique day. Investors are about to witness
the largest tech start up public debut since Snap Inc’s initial public offering in the previous year Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming platform, is about to go public.
The singular event not only marks the unprecedented public offering of the biggest music streaming
service in the world - it also innovates as to how the offering was undertaken. The company chose
to go public via a direct listing, meaning it didn’t issue any new shares nor it paid hefty sums to
investment banks to pitch the stock or step in as the buyers of last resort.2 This unconventional way
of offering shares to investors also means there is no restrictions on insider selling, meaning the stock
may experience aggressive shifts in valuation. Spotify’s direct listing is the largest of its kind in history
and the first one at the NYSE.3
Daniel Ek, the company’s co-founder and influential leader, skipped the usual public offering rituals
at the stock exchange. He didn’t do the opening bell-ringing, nor did he give interviews while
walking through the trading floor. And understandably so - there is little room for celebration yet.
Spotify, much like many music streaming services to date, is experience user growth at the expense
of increased operating losses. In 2017, revenues for the Swedish company grew 39% to just over €4
billion, while its losses more than doubled, reaching €1.24 billion.4 At the same time, competition
from music streaming services attached to deep pocketed companies such as Apple and Amazon
forced Spotify to incur in aggressive, use acquisition strategies such as family and student plans,
moves that had a negative impact on revenue per user, a key performance indicator for these
services. Emerging players like Tencent are eager to get in the action, capitalizing on booming
internal markets without losing sight of their global ambitions.
Although Spotify’s first day as a public company saw its share price increase 13% to a market
capitalization of over $26 billion, many analysts and investors raise concerns over the streaming
business model. What can streaming companies do to reach the path of sustainable growth? What
different strategies can they take? And why is it such a difficult business to be in?
Copyright © 2018 by Berklee
*
This material was prepared by Berklee graduate student Artur Melo e Castro and Associate Professor Alexandre Perrin.
The case is intended as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of
management situations.
1
1. Economics of the Music Industry
Formats for Recorded Music
Even though streaming is the prevailing service for music consumption today, it is only the latest in
a series of formats that have led to the digital world we live in. From vinyl’s and cassettes to floppy
discs and CD’s – these physical formats where crucial in advancing the recorded music industry. The
CD, for instance, was responsible for making music sales peak at almost $24 billion in the turn of the
century (see Appendix 1). Global sales surpassed 1bn in 1992 and 2bn in 1996, spiking as high as
$2.5 billion in 2000.
The Compact Disk (CD), made possible by the technological advances made in the nighties, created
a highly profitable formula - it was cheaper than its predecessor vinyl to manufacture, transport and
rack in stores, and its mass production further reduced manufacturing products. The CD was also
sold for twice as much compared to vinyl’s, increasing the profit margins. Music labels, the main
investors in production would sell the creative goods, almost always albums, at a wholesale price to
retailers, who would then be in charge of selling it to consumers. They would then be in charge of
marketing and promotion. This ownership model was required if consumers wanted to listen to
music, thus created scarcity and increasing the perceived value of music goods to consumers.5
The decade long boom of music sales came to a drastic end with the introduction of the MP3 file
and the digital, web era. The digitization of music meant it was now easily transferable online, while
new technology, mainly Apple’s portable music device iPod, was shifting the way people consumed
music. The creative goods were now on the go, ready to be access all the time. The shift in music
consumption was amplified over time while profits plummeted.
It took another decade for the baffled industry to realize how to shift business models to
accommodate this new era of access consumption over ownership and return to economic growth,
and the main responsible for this outcome was streaming.6 The music streaming business added
great value to consumers, providing on the go services and deeper engagement experiences
through subscription models where most if not all of the world’s catalogue was available. This
innovative business model came at a high cost - while streaming subscriber numbers rose every
quarter, so did streaming companies’ expenses, showing evidence that the business model was
hardly scalable. The hefty cost structure was mainly plagued with the high cost of music licensing fees streaming companies had to pay to rights holders.
Music Rights7
Intellectual property rights are at the center of the music industry. Intellectual property law insures
creators can exploit their artistic works for a period of time before “returning” them to the public
domain (the idea being that no creation is uniquely original and thus all artworks are built upon a
public pool of ideas to which every creative product must return). It also aims at providing incentives
for the creation of art by allowing creators and their business partners to explore these rights for
profit. Although the music industry deals with several kinds of intellectual property (including
trademarks, audio-visual and literary works), copyright is the core right that is controlled and
managed by the industry.
2
There is a foundational difference that needs to be made when studying the intellectual property
law that governs the music industry. There are two separate copyrights that are granted when a
musical product is created: the copyrights in songs (i.e. musical composition and lyrics - called
primary works) and the copyrights in sound recordings (derivative works, since they embody primary
works).
Artists and songwriters, the de-facto creators of musical works, frequently transfer their copyright
ownership to record labels and publishers in return for money, generally via a royalty structure
agreement. Hence, music publishers usually control the song, while record companies control
recording rights. Artists and composers have historically sought these deals since a corporate partner
is needed to make the risky investments needed to develop an artistic career, mostly through cash
advances and vigorous marketing efforts. It is worth noting that although many music businesses
own and manage both recording and publishing rights, they have to do so via two separate
companies. Those who wish to exploit recordings of songs have to seek deals with both firms.
Moreover, when a performing artist is also the composer of a song, he or she has to work with
different companies.
A copyright does not provide creators with a single right. In fact, it provides them a bundle of rights8:
•
Reproduction right - the literal “copy” right, granting the exclusive right to make copies of
a work.
•
Distribution right - exclusive right to issue copies of a work to the public.
•
Rental right - exclusive rights to rent or lend copies of a work to the public.
•
Adaptation right - exclusive right to make changes to a work.
•
Performance right - exclusive right to perform or display a work in public.
•
Communication right - exclusive right to share your work to the public, usually via
broadcasters but also digital channels.
Copyright owners make money when third parties wish to exploit some of these rights. They need
to get permission (license) from the owners, which in part ask for a payment (usually via a royalty
structure deal). More often than not, licensees wish to make use of both copyrights for several of the
aforementioned usages. Streaming a song, for instance, involves both the reproduction and
communication rights for the master track and the song. Thus, licensees need to make sure all
permissions are assured.
Revenue Distribution on the Value Chain9
Before the digital era, when the sale of physical copies of sound recordings was king, the distribution
of revenue on the value chain as relatively simple (see Appendix 2). Record companies exploited the
distribution rights of their sound recording copyrights, but since they don’t usually don’t own the
composition copyrights, they procured a reproduction rights license from the publisher of this
copyright - the “mechanical rights license”. As the recording business is riskier and costlier than the
3
publishing one, due to production, marketing and distribution, record labels generally take 90% of
the revenue generated, with publishers collecting the rest of the wholesale price10.
In this physical market, there is only one party that deals with copyright licenses - record labels. They
exploit their sound recording copyright and license the song copyright. They deliver the finished
product to distributors and retailers “rights ready” so the latter parties don’t need to take care of it.
Retailers pay labels the wholesale price for each record sold, and labels in turn account to the
publisher, normally via the respective publishing sector collection society. The label pays a royalty
to the artist, that generally stands at around 15% of revenue generated after some costs have been
deducted. Depending on the country, the songwriter is paid either through the collection society on
50/50 split deals between the two actors or by revenue-share deals paid by the society according to
each contract once the latter gets paid by the label.
The digital world added complexity to revenue distribution on the value chain. New digital platforms
brought about disruptive new technologies and business models and have generated new
challenges regarding the way music is license and how to process royalties and data.
Streaming platforms require a very different approach to licensing. Since there are no collection
societies for sound recordings in the US other than digital radio (with SoundExchange), the recording
industry has opted to license digital service providers (DSP’s) directly. Unlike the CD market, where
labels charged wholesale prices to retailers, streaming services are licensed on a revenue share deal.
Since these services hardly make money when they start, labels have put in a number of
contingencies in place when they negotiate deals:
1. The revenue share component generally provides labels with approximately 60% of any
revenue generated by the DSP that is assigned to their recordings.
2. A range of minima guarantees are demanded by labels in order to make sure they receive a
minimum sum of money.
3. The DSP pays a cash advance to the label. Royalty payments start to flow once this advance
is recouped.
4. Labels usually demand equity in the service if they are dealing with start-ups, hoping that
the biggest revenue generator might come from an initial public offering or from the sale of
the service to a major media or tech company.
5. Lastly, when negotiating first deals, an admin or technological fee is often incorporated in
the deal by labels.
After the deal is secured, the DSP reports the following categories to the label on a monthly basis:
total number of subscribers; total revenues after sales tax; total number of streams; total number of
streams from the label’s catalogue; proportion of streams generated by the label’s catalogue.
The DSP calculates the revenue that is due to the label based on the total number of streams that
came from the label’s catalogue. It then pays around 60% of that sum to the label, depending on
the deal that’s in place. If this value is smaller than the minimum rate for the total number of streams,
the DSP pays the latter sum instead. As time goes on, and streaming services grow, some of the
4
contingencies become irrelevant - admin fees tend to disappear after the original deal is replaced,
and monthly revenues should always surpass minimum guarantees.
After being paid, the label shares the revenue with the artists based on each contract. Most labels
have chosen to mimic streaming royalties with those of CD sales (approx. 15%), in a controversial
move that is highly contested by artists, who feel that the streaming model does not offer labels as
much risk and cost as the physical market did.
Revenue distribution gets even trickier on the publishing side of streaming. The publishing sector
used to license DSP’s directly, a practice that still happens in the US where collective licensing rules
restrict alternatives. In other markets, such as Europe, major publishers have started to license
content directly. However, publishers do not fully control the song copyrights outside of the US since
their deals with songwriters are usually structured on a revenue share basis and where songwriters
decide to assign some elements of their copyrights to collection societies. This means that, unlike
record companies that discard CMO’s out of the deal making process, publishers cannot.
Nonetheless, major publishers strongly believed that direct negotiation was crucial for higher income
for both rights holders, songwriters and DSP’s (that saved time and money with simpler and more
effective deals). After some changes to collective licensing rules in Europe took place, brought by a
series of cases on the European Court of Justice that provided publishers the power of “partial
withdrawal” to license digital services directly while not doing it for other services like radio, major
publishers procured unique joint ventures with CMO’s since the latter parties control come of the
copyright elements in songs that need to be exploited by DSP’s11. This unusual practice took off,
and all major publishers and big indies partnered with collection societies all throughout Europe.
Publishing deals are similar to recording deals. They are based on revenue share agreements and
include minimum guarantees and upfront advances. The revenue share usually provides publishers
10 to 15% of all revenue generated from their catalogue.
Due to the nature of publishing activities (songwriters generally work together, even if assigned to
different companies) and to the fact that there is no central database that lists co-ownership and
respective splits, DSP’s rely on publishers and CMO’s to inform them of what is due after the services
send a spreadsheet with all the streams that took place in a given period. This “back reporting”
represents massive challenges - firstly, CMO’s and publishers need to process an ever-increasing
amount of data; secondly, there are inconsistencies between different publishers’ and CMO’s
databases especially regarding ownership splits. This means DSP’s are often asked to pay more than
100% of royalties owed, in which case they delay payments until conflict situations are resolved.
2. Evolution of the Recorded Music Industry
Recent History
The downfall of physical sales and the new digital era brought about a new paradigm for the music
industry. During the 2000’s, the landscape was dominated by Apple, via its iTunes store and the
sales of downloads. From the late 2000’s to present, YouTube has been dominating the video
outlook, with a pioneer User Generated Content approach. But in 2006, a new company with a
disruptive business model promising to change the music industry was born - a Swedish start-up by
5
the name of Spotify. The Spotify App was launched two years later with a pioneer, music-exclusive
streaming model that included a subscription tier and a free, ad-supported service available by
invitation in order to cope with the vast growth. 12 The launch was made possible due to the
achievement of the much-needed licensing deals with major labels, providing Spotify with a wide
range of catalogue available to its users.
In 2011, Spotify hit the 1 million paid subscribers milestone across Europe, out of over 6 million
users13 (see Appendix 3). At the same time, the company was in the midst of raising $100 million,
valuing the service at $1 billion. One year later, the number of paid subscribers had risen to 4 million,
out of a total of 15 million users.14 The strong growth of the user base has continued ever since (see
figure below). From 2012 to 2017, total number of users has grown at an annual growth rate of 41%,
while paid subscriptions had risen by more than 50%.
Spotify’s revenues have grown consistent with the increase in usage (see Appendix 4). Over the
period of six years, the service increased its income by an annual growth rate of 55%. Due to the
nature of Spotify’s business model, losses followed the same path - the downwards trend increased
by roughly the same proportion, illustrating perfectly the scope of the challenges of music streaming
economics.
Streaming Wars Begin
Apple started its own music streaming service in June 2015, and quickly the streaming race seemed
like it’d became a two-horse race - six months after launching, the service had reached 10 million
paying subscribers (see Appendix 5), having reached the same amount of subscriptions that took
Spotify six years to accomplish.15
From 2014 to mid 2017, Spotify managed to keep a relatively strong market share position (see
Appendix 6). By the end of the second quarter of 2017, Spotify’s market share stood at 37%,
challenged only by a distant second placed Apple Music with 18%. The latter service grew faster in
percentage terms, but Spotify added more net subscribers. Apple Music’s impressive start, as
highlighted in the graphic, failed to keep up with the growth rate of its debut year. Often called the
“dark horse”, Amazon’s growth in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable. Its market
share more than doubled from 2015 to 2017, reporting 16 million paying subscribers by June 2017.
This represented a notable increase of 14 million customers in just 3 years.
Spotify
In 2017, Spotify relaunched its “Spotify for Artists” analytics platform, a service that provides
comprehensive data to artists and managers alike and sets one of the main differentiators between
the Swedish company and their competitors. Spotify also started investing in non-musical content
such as podcasts and video.16 The company has experimented integrating short videos onto its most
prolific playlists and is looking to invest in original video. The service has also entered partnerships
with ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and Eventbrite in order to display concerts in its
platform and redirect fans access to purchasing services. Spotify has also presented a new system
for labels to pitch their music via a new section of their website, making the process easier and more
transparent.17
6
Perhaps the most interesting and intriguing actions taken by the company were its acquisitions.
Spotify made a number of strategic acquisitions in order to enhance the quality of the platform and
user experience. One of them was Sonalytic, a company that develops an audio detection
technology that tracks copyrighted material, aids in music discovery and identifies songs, audio clips
and mixed content.18 Spotify also acquired Niland, makers of an artificial intelligence technology that
enhances music search and recommendation capabilities.19 In order to extend such efforts to video
recommendation tools, the company also bought MightyTV. 20 Cloud base, collaborative online
music studio startup Soundtrap was incorporated as well, a move that positions the company in the
realm of music creation, besides distribution.21 Spotify further acquired startup Mediachain Labs,
whose blockchain technology aims at correctly linking artists and songwriters to songs available on
the service, 22 an issue that has costed Spotify $20 million in a law suit settlement with music
publishers who repeatedly fail to get paid due to the lack of clear, trustworthy data.23
Apple Music
Streaming’s second largest player, Apple Music, followed suit with a high-profile acquisition of
Shazam.24 This move creates synergies in the realms of music identification and recognition, as well
as a deeper integration of Shazam into products such as Siri with the final aim to boosting Apple
Music’s penetration.
Apple, that had been focusing on exclusives in previous years, shifted its focus into original video
content. Investments were made in exclusive documentaries featuring artists by the likes of Pink,
Harry Styles and Sam Smith, as well as video shows such as Planet of The Apps. It is believed that
the company’s ultimate goal is to produce original, hit TV shows like Netflix’s Game of Thrones, and
eventually create a video streaming subscription model, with Apple Music driving some of the
conversion rate.
The streaming wars took on a new stand when Apple Music and music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine
said at an event in November 2017 that music streaming business is “not a great business”25 and
that Spotify would have to “figure out a way to get that audience to buy something else” since big
corporations such as Apple and Amazon mainly utilize their streaming services as an ancillary revenue
driver. During Apple’s November 2017 earnings calls, CFO Luca Maestri stated that “a few years
ago, we were actually declining in music; now with the streaming service in addition to the download
business, the business is growing again”.26 He had also added that Apple’s services department was
the size of a Fortune 100 company, with growth expected to double in coming years.27
Amazon
Often called the dark horse of the streaming landscape, Amazon’s streaming growth had been
anything but remarkable. Coming third after Spotify and Apple Music, the service saw a stunning
growth of net 13 million subscribers in the space of two years (from 3 million in mid 2015 to 16
million), representing a market share gain of nearly 100% in that period (from around 5% to 10%).
Amazon’s business strategy towards streaming differs greatly from “pure play” platforms such as
Spotify. The company offered two services: Amazon Prime Music, a fully bundled streaming model
with a limited catalogue, and Amazon Music Unlimited, with a wholly licensed music offer that mimics
that of Spotify and Apple Music. The former model offers a unique value proposition, targeting lower
spending, casual fans with a curated experience rather than higher spending music fans who want
7
access to a full catalog. Amazon also offers the Unlimited model for $3.99 with the Echo, a move
that’s inspired by Apple’s bundle approach towards streaming and that opens up new, older
customers who seek in home experiences rather than music on the go. After free shipping, that
retains the highest number of prime subscriptions, streaming video and music are the main
acquisition drivers for Amazon, which priority is to convert its massive online retail customers into
Prime members.
The two main factors that drove Amazon to a strong growth in an already established and highly
competitive market place were making Prime Music free for Prime users and the use of music as an
early use context for Alexa and the Echo.28 These two differentiators gave Amazon a competitive
advantage as they have opened up untapped audiences that other competitors had failed to reach.
Amazon’s Prime strategy with its triad of services (free shipping, video and music) had two main
effects on the streaming market - it expanded the market and it positioned Amazon as a leading
force for the following phase in streaming. The first phase was built around the desktop, with the
second being delivering personal, mobile experiences with offline music. This stage was tailored to
younger customers who valued accessing music on the go. Streaming demographics reflected that
– 16 to 24-year-olds were the largest single group (25% of total users), while under 40’s made just
under 70% of the market. Amazon’s in house, curated experience addresses the over 40’s market,
who value music in their homes. This age group is also more likely to buy smart speakers (in the UK,
consumers over 30 are twice as likely to have a speaker compared to 16-24). This means the
battleground for home speakers, and Amazon’s music strategy along with it, will take place for age
groups over 30 and begin a third stage in the streaming market led by older, lean back audiences
with music at point of access.
Google
In May 2018, Google introduced its latest music subscription service – YouTube Music29. After several
failed attempts at persuading customers to opt for the company’s service (such as Google Play and
YouTube Red), the company is confident that this time around, YouTube users will be more likely to
convert to paid members. The service is casted in the same mold as Spotify’s and Apple’s, offering
a free, ad-supported tier along with a $10 a month subscription, but if Google is able to convert
even a small percentage of YouTube users, the market will see yet another successful music
streaming platform come to fruition, constituting a major threat to Spotify, Apple and Amazon.
Spotify and Deezer are the only “stand alone” global streaming players. This means the rest of
competitors, such as Apple and Amazon, have very different priorities for their streaming offers they need not to turn a profit in the near future, as long as they drive ancillary revenue. This lack of
incentive results in a low pressure on labels to drive down their high rates. What’s more, such tactic
might drive the stand-alone competitors to their ground, a move that is surely welcomed by these
players.
Streaming Wars Go Global
Besides western companies who fight for global supremacy, a series of regional players with great
potential have been on the rise (see Appendix 7). From QQ Music in China and MelON in South
Korea to Gaana and Saavn in India - these services rely mostly on regional catalogue and have been
experiencing important growth in their own markets. For western companies to win in these
8
emerging markets, investments in local catalogue and operations have to be made. The same
reversely applies to these services’ aims of going global.
Tencent
Tencent Music, a division of Chinese tech giant Tencent, operated not only the most popular
streaming service in China (QQ Music) but also the second and third (Kugou and Kuwo, respectively).
Like Apple and Amazon, Tencent’s main streaming service has been a driver for ancillary revenue this time on the popular messenger app QQ Messenger. The company’s three streaming services
had 15 million paid subscribers and accounted for 77% of the Chinese music market. QQ Music
alone had 200 monthly active users.30
Among the factors explaining the considerable shift in the Chinese music market from plagued
privacy to an early adoption of freemium streaming services are the government’s crackdown on
piracy, the increased willingness to pay from Chinese consumers through low cost pricing policy
(more on this point in 4.2) and region-specific engaging features such as in-app karaoke, and the
company’s ability to strike highly positive deals with labels through a huge clout mainly built upon
the majority of local catalogue consumption.
Tencent’s global media ambitions where marked by several high-profile deals, including with Spotify
and Gaana. The former one saw Tencent and Spotify agree on acquiring minority stakes in each
other businesses.31 The Chinese company further diversified its streaming portfolio by leading a
$115 million funding round in Indian streaming service Gaana, along with other minority stakes in
companies such as Snap, Inc.3233 that aim at position the company as a global digital media player.
Its strategic portfolio of minority investments may be conditioned by government policies - the
Chinese government, in 2017, announced restrictions on the amount of overseas spending of
national companies34 - but it gives the company influence and benefits of a global expansion without
the risks and resources required by majority ownerships.
In December 2017, Tencent announced it was seeking a new funding at a $10 billion valuation ahead
of an initial public offering revealed earlier in April of that year.35
Melon
In South Korea, music streaming service Melon has been experiencing a notable growth since its
parent company Loen Entertainment was acquired by Kakao Corp, a Korean internet company
makers of a popular messenger app, in 2016.36 The service’s main focus was its home market, and
as of mid 2017 counted 5.6 million subscribers, a 27% growth compared to the previous year’s
numbers.
Saavn
Launched in 2007, Indian service Saavn initiated the transition from download piracy to online music
streaming. Reigning alone until 2015, the service saw the entry of several competitors to the Indian
market including Gaana and Apple Music. The company reported 18 million active users in 2015
and had 2.4 million paid subscribers as of mid 2017.37
9
3. Adapting to Times
Evolving Structures and Strategies
Pricing strategy is one of the most pivotal decisions within the music streaming market. The
traditional $9.99 pricing model did a good job establishing the market with a simple pricing
proposition and educating consumers for an appropriate price for music (see Appendix 8). However,
it seems this price is higher than most consumers are willing to pay for music and lower than what
higher spending fans could pay. This is why streaming platforms have resorted to telco bundles and
aggressive discounts, as they convert free users into subscribers at a higher pace, though the
resulting loss of revenue may not be totally worth it, with average revenue per user steadily
decreasing as time goes by. Now that streaming adoption is growing and moving away from early
adopters, pricing innovation is more important than ever, but several hurdles arise.
Midia consumer research data shows that almost 70% of the 9.99 price opportunity in mature
markets has already been tapped (see Appendix 9). Within these countries, some are saturated Sweden has 94% subscriber penetration - while others, for instance Australia, sit at 53%. Big markets
that are still attached to physical sales (Germany and Japan) represent some of the highest potential
for growth in established markets for streaming penetration.
Research also shows that demand for fully licensed streaming services (known as “All You Can Eat”
or AYCE”) is relatively inelastic. Of the consumers surveyed by Midia, just under 17% stated they
were willing to pay 9.99 while 21.5% said they would pay 6.99. While this is a notable difference,
that shows the 6.99 model is the one with highest potential to grow customer base, it is not enough
to open a broad new market opportunity. Aggressive discounts of AYCE subscriptions practiced by
streaming services, and platforms like YouTube are to blame for the lack of mid-tier audiences’
willingness to pay. This was evident when Apple Music unsuccessfully tried to push for a 7.99 model.
There is also a considerable opportunity for a super-premium, 19.99 model to better tap higher
spending fans that were used to spend much more than 9.99 during the physical era. However,
solely creating new pricing models without investing in better user experiences, thus giving
consumers proper reasons for a higher spending in music, will not do the job. Almost 20% of
surveyed subscribers said they were interested in an unlimited, on demand service with offline
playback, high definition audio, artist exclusives and live streamed concerts. This means significant
investment is needed for streaming platforms to increase their value proposition. Higher audio
quality alone is not enough, as Tidal’s poor subscriber growth over the years has proved.
A comparison between music and video streaming pricing strategies shows that music streaming
pricing is considerably less varied and segmented. As of February 2017, there were 17 different
video streaming services in the US, compared to only 8 for music streaming. Video streaming
subscriptions had prices ranging from 1.99 to $40 a month, with 4.99 being the most common price
point. These pricing strategies reflect a more diverse product offering, with several features such as
original content and 4k movie quality successfully creating a differentiation between services and
price tags. The music streaming pricing landscape is dominated by 9.99 model, with pricing ranging
from 3.99 for the bundled Amazon Prime Music service to the 24.99 platform Rokmobile, a bundled
service that includes a mobile tariff.
10
Regarding emerging markets, the current pricing strategies are more varied (see Appendix 10).
Prices are generally lower in USD terms, but a GDP Purchasing Power Parity analysis reveals
surprisingly different outcomes depending on each country. Using US GDP PPP as a reference point,
QQ Music, the leading Chinese streaming service, charges the equivalent price of 6.69; Lebanon’s
Anghami’s price of 4.99 is equivalent of $20 and Spinlet, a Nigerian service, charges the equivalent
of almost $100. This creates both a great opportunity as well as challenge for streaming services: on
the one hand, emerging markets are crucial for the next stage of development of streaming
companies, but in order to lower these real prices they need to be able to secure better deals with
rights holders with lower payments. Failing to do so and the streaming services are left to telco
bundles and ad supported models to reach sufficiently high penetration rates.
In sum, there is a clear opportunity to create a more dynamic pricing strategy, one that reflects the
more mature phase of streaming growth, through both premium offers and pricing innovation in the
mid-tier range. After having conquered the early adopters, streaming platforms have been investing
in technology such as better recommendation tools as the audience shifts to early majority. This shift
in focus, however, has left the former group with a value proposition that is relatively unchanged.
There is, then, a clear case for premium offers, adding a new range of product offerings such as
interactive artist videos and stories that appeal to super fans. The sum of these new services creates
a compelling case for these fans to spend the extra amount, hence streaming services can better
capitalize on this loyal, first audience.
Effects on Usage – B2C
Streaming has brought about deep changes to music consumption in recent years, a consequence
that technology has had throughout the history of the music industry. Prior to 1968, singles were
king. This format was disrupted with the introduction of LP’s, that shifted the music consumption
habits from single songs to compilations of them. Such trend continued in time and peak with the
golden CD era, only to be disrupted once again this time with downloads and the .99$ per-song
iTunes model. The rise of streaming and playlisting, and consequent decline in downloads, is
perpetuating this shift, while creating an ever-bigger increase in differences between consumption
from younger, digital audiences and older, physical ones.
Much like the customer audiences of streaming services in general, playlist consumption is driven by
younger audiences, peaking in the age group 25-34 (see Appendix 11). In stark contrast, older
audiences’ consumption of playlists ranks below the weighted average of 7%, falling to as much as
1% in customers with 55+ years old.
This creates a wide generational gap that is visible in sales charts provided by the industry - in 2016,
for instance, Elvis Presley’s “The Wonder of You” compilation album ranked number one in the UK
and sold 1.6 million copies throughout the world. At the same time, the artist amassed over 300
million streams on Spotify, far from that year’s most streamed artist, Drake, that gathered 4.7 billion.
Following the same pattern, younger users are also more likely to create playlists, a key performance
indicator for streaming platforms to gauge whether or not their users are engaged with the platform.
At the same time, playlist user growth has slowed compared to total streaming user growth. Using
Spotify as an example, the platform saw a growth of 67% in subscriptions in 2017 while only six of
the most followed playlists grew their following at a higher pace (see Appendix 12). What is more,
playlist consumption growth rates slowed considerably towards the end of 2017 - RapCaviar’s
11
monthly growth rate went from 10% in May of 2017 to 4.1% in October and 2.6% by January 2018.
Among the outperformers, Beast Mode, a work out playlist, scored the highest growth rate,
illustrating the curious fact that for many users, music consumption is not an end experience but one
that complements another activity. This is also visible in the growth of playlists such as Verano
Forever and Peaceful Piano, the latter often used to sleep or study. Pop, Latin and Rock were the
music genres that outperformed the subscriber growth of Spotify.
The rise of paid subscribers on streaming platforms and slowed playlist consumption growth
suggests that streaming is entering a more mature stage of its life cycle, moving away from early
adopters to new users. Streaming’s early adopters had to build playlists because the alternative they
faced was a search bar. Now, after hefty investments and improvements in curation and
recommendation systems, they don’t need this lean-in effort in order to have a great listening
experience. Interestingly, voice activation systems that are at an early adoption stage will also shape
the future of streaming and drive another era of growth to playlist consumption since users will most
likely request for genres instead of specific artists.
Platforms and Artists – B2B
Due to the nature of streaming platforms, the relationship between creators and services has often
been unstable. One of the ways streaming companies can differentiate themselves from competitors
is to create new, powerful B2B tools that help artists and managers. This is especially true for Spotify,
that has invested heavily on such services since early on, both through in-house development and
acquisitions.
The main tool Spotify offers to content creators is “Spotify for Artists”, a platform where artists and
their managers can keep track of a sizable amount of streaming data on their music over time - from
playlist rankings, streams and followers to their gender and location.38 Via a desktop or an app
version, artists can update their profile, pictures and biography. They can learn about their listeners,
keeping track of the number of streams and followers over time. The tool also allows for artists to
know in real time what songs are performing better and where they are placed. Spotify for Artists
also allow artists to promote concerts, linking their profile with ticketing platforms such as
Ticketmaster and Songkick. Furthermore, the platform lets artists sell merchandise through a
partnership with Merchbar.39
Acquiring innovative technology companies has also been a way for Spotify to bring in artist friendly
platforms. The most famous of them, Echo Nest, has brought the company a series of tools that help
playlist creators manage their playlists efficiently. One of these services is “Smarter Playlists”,40 an
automated playlist creation program that allows users to set rules and create programmed playlists
via a simple graphic user interface. Another playlist managing service is “Sort Your Music”, 41 a
platform that shows users how Spotify analyses music through eight different attributes such as
energy or danceability. Users can then sort their playlists using filters to better manage these
different characteristics.
Recently, in order to celebrate International Women’s Day, and since top tier artists are male, Spotify
released a tool that shows the gender breakdown of artists users listen to.42 This tool also creates
“equalized” playlists, recommending new, female artists with the aim of balancing listening and
supporting underrepresented creators.
12
Apple Music first resisted creating a similar analytics platform for their artists but, due to the success
of their rival, they announced in January 2018 a beta version of “Apple Music for Artists”.43 The
platform is similar to Spotify’s, breaking down data such as audience gender and streams location.
Apple Music for Artists comes with the plus of linking to the artist iTunes profile, thus showing song
and album purchases in comparison with streaming analytics.
13
4. Future of Streaming Wars
The music streaming run has been nothing short of remarkable - it arguably turned a whole industry
away from a long period of recession into a new era of growth, only due to the effective use of
technology and innovative value propositions that would not have been possible in any other time
in the business’s history.
As of 2018, however, music streaming business models are yet to be robust - built upon the valuable
new consumption proposition and continuous reinvestment in platform growth while failing to
effectively address the expensive cost structure, they are still to find a sustainable path to
profitability. While most global services ride on the back of hefty tech corporations that see
streaming as a way to drive profitable ancillary revenue, the world’s leading music streaming
platform is one of the few stand-alone platforms with increased pressure to turn the corner on its yet
unprofitable business model. What is more, Asian companies are, for the first time, keen on joining
the battleground for streaming domination, as their services experience extraordinary growth on the
back of flourishing economies.
Questions then arise on how to move forward for an industry that has as much challenges as
opportunities for growth. How can Spotify turn a profit? What strategies can Apple and Amazon’s
music streaming companies take to win the streaming war? What will the role of Asian giants such
as Tencent be in the future streaming landscape?
14
Appendices
15
Appendix 1. Global Record Music Revenues, 1999-2016 ($US billions)
Source: Compiled from IFPI Global Music Report.
16
Appendix 2. Licensing Models, CD and Streaming
Source: Compiled by authors.
17
Appendix 3. Spotify Users, 2011-2017 (millions)
Free Users
Change
Paid Users
Change
1
Total Users
Mar-11
6
7
Sep-11
8
33%
2
100%
10
Sep-12
11
38%
4
100%
15
Dec-12
15
36%
5
25%
20
Mar-13
18
20%
6
20%
24
May-14
30
67%
10
67%
40
Dec-14
45
50%
15
50%
60
Jun-15
55
22%
20
33%
75
Dec-16
78
42%
48
140%
126
Jun-17
80
3%
60
25%
140
Dec-17
88
10%
71
18%
159
Source: Spotify
18
Appendix 4. Spotify Revenue vs Losses, 2011-2017 (€ millions)
Revenues
Change
Losses
Change
2011
188
-45.4
2012
430
129%
-86.7
91%
2013
747
74%
-57.8
-33%
2014
1085
45%
-188.1
225%
2015
1929
78%
-231.4
23%
2016
2934
52%
-539.2
133%
2017
4090
39%
-1240
130%
Source: Spotify
19
Appendix 5. Premium subscribers, Main Global Players (millions)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Dec-16
Jun-17
Amazon
Apple
Music
2.0
3.0
4.1
7.4
13.8
16.0
10.0
15.7
20.9
28.2
Deezer
6.9
6.3
5.9
6.0
4.7
6.3
Spotify
15.0
21.5
28.0
37.0
46.0
58.0
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
20
Appendix 6. Market Shares, Main Global Players (%)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Dec-16
Jun-17
Amazon
Apple
Music
4%
5%
5%
7%
10%
10%
0%
0%
13%
16%
15.7%
18%
Deezer
14%
11%
8%
6%
4%
4%
Spotify
31%
38%
36%
37%
35%
37%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
21
Appendix 7. Premium subscribers, Emerging Players (millions)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Claro Musica
KKBOX Music
1.1
1.6
1.8
Dec-16
Jun-17
1.0
2.5
2.0
2.2
2.3
Kugou
0.1
0.4
1.7
2.9
3.2
Kuwo
0.1
0.3
1.2
1.9
2.2
MelON
2.8
3.4
3.8
4.4
5.4
5.6
QQ Music
2.8
3.0
3.2
3.7
9.9
10.4
Saavn
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
2.4
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
22
Appendix 8. Existing $9.99 Streaming Music Subscribers and Remaining Bases
Subscriber Penetration
France
Additional 9.99 Opportunity
9.99
Penetration
10%
4%
71%
9%
8%
53%
UK
12%
7%
63%
Brazil
15%
6%
71%
Sweden
26%
2%
93%
US
20%
9%
69%
Average
16%
7%
70%
Australia
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
23
Appendix 9. Demand for Music Streaming by Price Point
Consumer Interest in Price
Point
Non-music subscribers likely to
adopt
6.99 Demand
22%
10%
9.99 Demand
17%
7%
19.99 Demand
8%
5%
Existing Penetration
16%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
24
Appendix 10. Purchasing Power Parity Analysis
GDP
PPP
Equivalent
9.99
pricing
Actual
pricing
PPP
Pricing
Population
Subscribers
Subscriber
penetration
Subscriber
per capita
spend
US
56,116
9.99
9.99
9.99
320
26
8.0%
0.08
China
15,424
2.75
1.84
6.69
1,357
15
1.1%
0.01
Philippines
7,387
1.32
0.90
6.84
103
Nigeria
1,114
0.20
1.96
98.73
186
Lebanon
13,963
2.49
4.99
20.05
6
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
25
Appendix 11. Penetration of User and Curated Playlists
Age
User Playlists
Curated Playlists
16-19
32%
10%
20-24
27%
12%
25-34
24%
13%
35-44
14%
5%
45-54
14%
2%
3%
1%
19%
7%
55+
Weighted Average
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 17, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
26
Appendix 12. Growth in Followers, Spotify Playlists (2017)
Playlists
YoY % Growth
Peaceful Piano
43.0%
Are & Be
47.3%
Today's Top Hits
47.7%
Verano Forever
54.2%
RapCaviar
57.2%
Rock Classics
59.3%
Get Turnt
66.6%
Baila Reggaeton
75.4%
Rock This
83.8%
¡Viva Latino!
103.5%
Global Top 50
145.0%
Beast Mode
184.6%
Spotify Paid Subscriber Growth
62.8%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 17, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
27
Endnotes
1
Cook, James. “Spotify is vulnerable to bigger tech companies like Apple and Amazon — and its IPO won't change that”.
Business Insider. Accessed May 31, 2018.
http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-vulnerable-apple-amazon-ipo-2018-1
2
Mikolajczak, Chuck and Nellis, Stephen. “Spotify Shares Jump in Record-Setting Direct Listing”. Reuters. Accessed March
21, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spotify-ipo/spotify-shares-jump-in-record-setting-direct-listingidUSKCN1HA12B
3
Statt, Nick. “Spotify’s IPO Was Both a Success and an Uncertain Forecast for the Future of Music”. The Verge. Accessed
March 21, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/3/17194208/spotify-ipo-nyse-music-streaming-market-valuation
4
“Form F-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933 – Spotify Technology, S.A.”. United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm
5
Lynskey, Dorian. “How the Compact Disc Lost its Shine”. The Guardian. Accessed March 23, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/28/how-the-compact-disc-lost-its-shine
6
Bond, Shannon. “Streaming Revenue to Surpass Physical Music Sales This Year”. Financial Times. Accessed March 23,
2018.
https://www.ft.com/content/94c5cdb0-4a26-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43
7
Unless otherwise attributed, all information in this section comes from Cooke, Chris, “Dissecting the Digital Dollar”
(Headley Brothers, 2015).
8 S. Passman, Donald. “All You Need to Know About the Music Industry”. Free Press, 2012.
9
Unless otherwise attributed, all information in this section comes from Cooke, Chris, “Dissecting the Digital Dollar”
(Headley Brothers, 2015).
10 S. Passman, Donald. “All You Need to Know About the Music Industry”. Free Press, 2012.
11 Daniel Gervais (ed.), Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights, second edition (Alphen aan den Rijn:
Kluwer Law International, 2010), pp. 135-167.
12
Spotify. “We’ve Only Just Begun”. Accessed March 28, 2018. https://newsroom.spotify.com/us/2008/10/07/weve-onlyjust-begun/
13
“Spotify Hits Milestone With 1 Million Subscribers”. BBC News. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-12676327
14
Sanburn, Josh. “Spotify is Growing — But Why Isn’t It Growing Faster?”. Time. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://business.time.com/2012/08/16/spotify-is-growing-but-the-idea-of-music-ownership-is-holding-it-back/
15
Addady, Michal. “Apple Music Just Did in Six Months What Took Spotify Six Years”. Fortune. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/apple-music-10/
16
“Form F-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933 – Spotify Technology, S.A.”. United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. Accessed March 28, 2018.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm
17
“Spotify Launches New Playlist-Pitching System for Labels”. Music Ally. Accessed March 30, 2018.
http://musically.com/2017/10/17/spotify-playlist-pitching-system/
18
Perez, Sarah. “Spotify Acquires Audio Detection Startup Sonalytic”. TechCrunch. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/07/spotify-acquires-audio-detection-startup-sonalytic/
19
Russel, Jon. “Spotify Buys AI Startup Niland to Develop its Music Personalization and Recommendations”. TechCrunch.
Accessed March 30, 2018. https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/18/spotify-buys-ai-startup-niland/
20
Perez, Sarah. “Spotify Acquires Content Recommendation Startup MightyTV”. TechCrunch. March 30, 2018.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/27/spotify-acquires-content-recommendation-startup-mightytv/
21
“Spotify acquired online music studio Soundtrap for €51 million”. Business Insider Nordic. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://nordic.businessinsider.com/spotify-reportedly-acquired-online-music-studio-soundtrap-for-51-million--/
22
“Spotify Acquires MediaChain Lab”. Spotify. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://newsroom.spotify.com/es/2017/04/26/spotify-acquires-mediachain-labs/
23
Sisario, Ben. “Spotify Reaches Settlement With Publishers in Licensing Dispute”. The New York Times. Accessed March
30, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/business/media/spotify-reaches-settlement-with-publishers-in-licensingdispute.html
24
Satariano, Adam. “Apple Buys Shazam to Boost Apple Music”. Bloomberg. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-11/apple-buys-early-iphone-app-hit-shazam-to-boost-apple-music
25
Stutz, Colin. “Jimmy Iovine Breaks Down What's Wrong With the Music Business, Warns Against Overoptimism in
Streaming: 'They're Not Making Money'”. Billboard. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8053937/jimmy-iovine-interview-whats-wrong-music-streaming-defiant-ones
26
“Apple talks music revenues: ’The business is growing again’”. Music Ally. Accessed March 30, 2018.
http://musically.com/2017/11/03/apple-talks-music-revenues-business-growing/
28
27
Miller, Chance. “Apple CFO Luca Maestri talks R&D spending, wearables growth & more in Goldman Sachs interview”.
9To5Mac. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/14/luca-maestri-apple-research-and-developmentwearables-interview/
28
Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 1, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
29
Nicolaou, Anna. “Google takes on Apple and Spotify with new music servisse”. Financial Times. Accessed May 31, 2018.
https://www.ft.com/content/21e0d8ca-5bec-11e8-9334-2218e7146b04
30
Jones, Rhian. “Spotify and Apple Music Will Struggle in China: Meet the Reason Why”. Music Business Worldwide.
Accessed April 1, 2018. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-and-apple-music-will-struggle-in-china-meetthe-reason-why/
31
Russel, Jon. “Spotify and Tencent Agree to Swap Stakes in Their Music Businesses”. TechCrunch. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/12/08/spotify-tencent-share-swap/
32
“Tencent Leads in Gaana’s $115 Million Funding Round”. Economic Times. Accessed April 6, 2018.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/tencent-leads-in-gaanas-115-million-fundinground/articleshow/63104276.cms
33
Lunden, Ingrid. “WeChat owner Tencent Snapped up Another 12% of Snap This Month”. TechCrunch. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/08/wechat-owner-tencent-snapped-up-another-12-of-snap-this-month/
34
Hsu, Sara. “China Tightens Overseas Investment to Reduce Risks”. Forbes. Accessed April 6, 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2017/12/22/china-tightens-overseas-investment-to-reduce-risks/#43bc48e9772c
35
Chen, Lulu Yilun. “Tencent Music Seeks Pre-IPO Funds at $10 Billion Value”. Bloomberg Technology. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-01/tencent-music-is-said-to-seek-pre-ipo-funds-at-10-billionvalue
36
Lee, Se Young. “Kakao to Buy South Korea's Top Music Streaming Operator for $1.6 Billion”. Reuters. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kakao-m-a-loen-ent/kakao-to-buy-south-koreas-top-music-streaming-operatorfor-1-6-billion-idUSKCN0UP01620160111
37
“Saavn Now Has 18m Monthly Active Users”. Music Ally. Accessed April 25, 2018.
http://musically.com/2015/09/25/saavn-now-18m-monthly-activeusers/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3BkWcmoJCMS9Kvjp5q9%2B6cFw%3D%3D
38
“Spotify for Artists”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://artists.spotify.com/
39
“Merchbar to Power Artist Merch on Spotify”. Spotify. Accessed April 25 2018.
https://artists.spotify.com/blog/merchbar-to-power-artist-merch
40
“Smarter Playlists”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. http://playlistmachinery.com/index.html
41
“Sort Your Music”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. http://sortyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/
42
Skelton, Eric. “Spotify Created a Tool That Analyzes How Many Female Artists You Listen To”. Pigeons&Planes.
Accessed April 25, 2018. https://pigeonsandplanes.com/news/2018/03/spotify-tool-female-artists
43
Potuck, Michael. “Apple Music for Artists Debuts as a New Analytics Dashboard for Musicians”. 9To5Mac. Accessed
April 25, 2018. https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/22/apple-music-for-artists/
29
Streaming Wars Continue*
“Amazon sells Prime; Apple sells telephones and iPads; Spotify, they’re going to have to figure
out a way to get that audience to buy something else.”1
Jimmy Iovine, Apple Music
April 3rd - the New York Stock Exchange woke up to a unique day. Investors are about to witness
the largest tech start up public debut since Snap Inc’s initial public offering in the previous year Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming platform, is about to go public.
The singular event not only marks the unprecedented public offering of the biggest music streaming
service in the world - it also innovates as to how the offering was undertaken. The company chose
to go public via a direct listing, meaning it didn’t issue any new shares nor it paid hefty sums to
investment banks to pitch the stock or step in as the buyers of last resort.2 This unconventional way
of offering shares to investors also means there is no restrictions on insider selling, meaning the stock
may experience aggressive shifts in valuation. Spotify’s direct listing is the largest of its kind in history
and the first one at the NYSE.3
Daniel Ek, the company’s co-founder and influential leader, skipped the usual public offering rituals
at the stock exchange. He didn’t do the opening bell-ringing, nor did he give interviews while
walking through the trading floor. And understandably so - there is little room for celebration yet.
Spotify, much like many music streaming services to date, is experience user growth at the expense
of increased operating losses. In 2017, revenues for the Swedish company grew 39% to just over €4
billion, while its losses more than doubled, reaching €1.24 billion.4 At the same time, competition
from music streaming services attached to deep pocketed companies such as Apple and Amazon
forced Spotify to incur in aggressive, use acquisition strategies such as family and student plans,
moves that had a negative impact on revenue per user, a key performance indicator for these
services. Emerging players like Tencent are eager to get in the action, capitalizing on booming
internal markets without losing sight of their global ambitions.
Although Spotify’s first day as a public company saw its share price increase 13% to a market
capitalization of over $26 billion, many analysts and investors raise concerns over the streaming
business model. What can streaming companies do to reach the path of sustainable growth? What
different strategies can they take? And why is it such a difficult business to be in?
Copyright © 2018 by Berklee
*
This material was prepared by Berklee graduate student Artur Melo e Castro and Associate Professor Alexandre Perrin.
The case is intended as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of
management situations.
1
1. Economics of the Music Industry
Formats for Recorded Music
Even though streaming is the prevailing service for music consumption today, it is only the latest in
a series of formats that have led to the digital world we live in. From vinyl’s and cassettes to floppy
discs and CD’s – these physical formats where crucial in advancing the recorded music industry. The
CD, for instance, was responsible for making music sales peak at almost $24 billion in the turn of the
century (see Appendix 1). Global sales surpassed 1bn in 1992 and 2bn in 1996, spiking as high as
$2.5 billion in 2000.
The Compact Disk (CD), made possible by the technological advances made in the nighties, created
a highly profitable formula - it was cheaper than its predecessor vinyl to manufacture, transport and
rack in stores, and its mass production further reduced manufacturing products. The CD was also
sold for twice as much compared to vinyl’s, increasing the profit margins. Music labels, the main
investors in production would sell the creative goods, almost always albums, at a wholesale price to
retailers, who would then be in charge of selling it to consumers. They would then be in charge of
marketing and promotion. This ownership model was required if consumers wanted to listen to
music, thus created scarcity and increasing the perceived value of music goods to consumers.5
The decade long boom of music sales came to a drastic end with the introduction of the MP3 file
and the digital, web era. The digitization of music meant it was now easily transferable online, while
new technology, mainly Apple’s portable music device iPod, was shifting the way people consumed
music. The creative goods were now on the go, ready to be access all the time. The shift in music
consumption was amplified over time while profits plummeted.
It took another decade for the baffled industry to realize how to shift business models to
accommodate this new era of access consumption over ownership and return to economic growth,
and the main responsible for this outcome was streaming.6 The music streaming business added
great value to consumers, providing on the go services and deeper engagement experiences
through subscription models where most if not all of the world’s catalogue was available. This
innovative business model came at a high cost - while streaming subscriber numbers rose every
quarter, so did streaming companies’ expenses, showing evidence that the business model was
hardly scalable. The hefty cost structure was mainly plagued with the high cost of music licensing fees streaming companies had to pay to rights holders.
Music Rights7
Intellectual property rights are at the center of the music industry. Intellectual property law insures
creators can exploit their artistic works for a period of time before “returning” them to the public
domain (the idea being that no creation is uniquely original and thus all artworks are built upon a
public pool of ideas to which every creative product must return). It also aims at providing incentives
for the creation of art by allowing creators and their business partners to explore these rights for
profit. Although the music industry deals with several kinds of intellectual property (including
trademarks, audio-visual and literary works), copyright is the core right that is controlled and
managed by the industry.
2
There is a foundational difference that needs to be made when studying the intellectual property
law that governs the music industry. There are two separate copyrights that are granted when a
musical product is created: the copyrights in songs (i.e. musical composition and lyrics - called
primary works) and the copyrights in sound recordings (derivative works, since they embody primary
works).
Artists and songwriters, the de-facto creators of musical works, frequently transfer their copyright
ownership to record labels and publishers in return for money, generally via a royalty structure
agreement. Hence, music publishers usually control the song, while record companies control
recording rights. Artists and composers have historically sought these deals since a corporate partner
is needed to make the risky investments needed to develop an artistic career, mostly through cash
advances and vigorous marketing efforts. It is worth noting that although many music businesses
own and manage both recording and publishing rights, they have to do so via two separate
companies. Those who wish to exploit recordings of songs have to seek deals with both firms.
Moreover, when a performing artist is also the composer of a song, he or she has to work with
different companies.
A copyright does not provide creators with a single right. In fact, it provides them a bundle of rights8:
•
Reproduction right - the literal “copy” right, granting the exclusive right to make copies of
a work.
•
Distribution right - exclusive right to issue copies of a work to the public.
•
Rental right - exclusive rights to rent or lend copies of a work to the public.
•
Adaptation right - exclusive right to make changes to a work.
•
Performance right - exclusive right to perform or display a work in public.
•
Communication right - exclusive right to share your work to the public, usually via
broadcasters but also digital channels.
Copyright owners make money when third parties wish to exploit some of these rights. They need
to get permission (license) from the owners, which in part ask for a payment (usually via a royalty
structure deal). More often than not, licensees wish to make use of both copyrights for several of the
aforementioned usages. Streaming a song, for instance, involves both the reproduction and
communication rights for the master track and the song. Thus, licensees need to make sure all
permissions are assured.
Revenue Distribution on the Value Chain9
Before the digital era, when the sale of physical copies of sound recordings was king, the distribution
of revenue on the value chain as relatively simple (see Appendix 2). Record companies exploited the
distribution rights of their sound recording copyrights, but since they don’t usually don’t own the
composition copyrights, they procured a reproduction rights license from the publisher of this
copyright - the “mechanical rights license”. As the recording business is riskier and costlier than the
3
publishing one, due to production, marketing and distribution, record labels generally take 90% of
the revenue generated, with publishers collecting the rest of the wholesale price10.
In this physical market, there is only one party that deals with copyright licenses - record labels. They
exploit their sound recording copyright and license the song copyright. They deliver the finished
product to distributors and retailers “rights ready” so the latter parties don’t need to take care of it.
Retailers pay labels the wholesale price for each record sold, and labels in turn account to the
publisher, normally via the respective publishing sector collection society. The label pays a royalty
to the artist, that generally stands at around 15% of revenue generated after some costs have been
deducted. Depending on the country, the songwriter is paid either through the collection society on
50/50 split deals between the two actors or by revenue-share deals paid by the society according to
each contract once the latter gets paid by the label.
The digital world added complexity to revenue distribution on the value chain. New digital platforms
brought about disruptive new technologies and business models and have generated new
challenges regarding the way music is license and how to process royalties and data.
Streaming platforms require a very different approach to licensing. Since there are no collection
societies for sound recordings in the US other than digital radio (with SoundExchange), the recording
industry has opted to license digital service providers (DSP’s) directly. Unlike the CD market, where
labels charged wholesale prices to retailers, streaming services are licensed on a revenue share deal.
Since these services hardly make money when they start, labels have put in a number of
contingencies in place when they negotiate deals:
1. The revenue share component generally provides labels with approximately 60% of any
revenue generated by the DSP that is assigned to their recordings.
2. A range of minima guarantees are demanded by labels in order to make sure they receive a
minimum sum of money.
3. The DSP pays a cash advance to the label. Royalty payments start to flow once this advance
is recouped.
4. Labels usually demand equity in the service if they are dealing with start-ups, hoping that
the biggest revenue generator might come from an initial public offering or from the sale of
the service to a major media or tech company.
5. Lastly, when negotiating first deals, an admin or technological fee is often incorporated in
the deal by labels.
After the deal is secured, the DSP reports the following categories to the label on a monthly basis:
total number of subscribers; total revenues after sales tax; total number of streams; total number of
streams from the label’s catalogue; proportion of streams generated by the label’s catalogue.
The DSP calculates the revenue that is due to the label based on the total number of streams that
came from the label’s catalogue. It then pays around 60% of that sum to the label, depending on
the deal that’s in place. If this value is smaller than the minimum rate for the total number of streams,
the DSP pays the latter sum instead. As time goes on, and streaming services grow, some of the
4
contingencies become irrelevant - admin fees tend to disappear after the original deal is replaced,
and monthly revenues should always surpass minimum guarantees.
After being paid, the label shares the revenue with the artists based on each contract. Most labels
have chosen to mimic streaming royalties with those of CD sales (approx. 15%), in a controversial
move that is highly contested by artists, who feel that the streaming model does not offer labels as
much risk and cost as the physical market did.
Revenue distribution gets even trickier on the publishing side of streaming. The publishing sector
used to license DSP’s directly, a practice that still happens in the US where collective licensing rules
restrict alternatives. In other markets, such as Europe, major publishers have started to license
content directly. However, publishers do not fully control the song copyrights outside of the US since
their deals with songwriters are usually structured on a revenue share basis and where songwriters
decide to assign some elements of their copyrights to collection societies. This means that, unlike
record companies that discard CMO’s out of the deal making process, publishers cannot.
Nonetheless, major publishers strongly believed that direct negotiation was crucial for higher income
for both rights holders, songwriters and DSP’s (that saved time and money with simpler and more
effective deals). After some changes to collective licensing rules in Europe took place, brought by a
series of cases on the European Court of Justice that provided publishers the power of “partial
withdrawal” to license digital services directly while not doing it for other services like radio, major
publishers procured unique joint ventures with CMO’s since the latter parties control come of the
copyright elements in songs that need to be exploited by DSP’s11. This unusual practice took off,
and all major publishers and big indies partnered with collection societies all throughout Europe.
Publishing deals are similar to recording deals. They are based on revenue share agreements and
include minimum guarantees and upfront advances. The revenue share usually provides publishers
10 to 15% of all revenue generated from their catalogue.
Due to the nature of publishing activities (songwriters generally work together, even if assigned to
different companies) and to the fact that there is no central database that lists co-ownership and
respective splits, DSP’s rely on publishers and CMO’s to inform them of what is due after the services
send a spreadsheet with all the streams that took place in a given period. This “back reporting”
represents massive challenges - firstly, CMO’s and publishers need to process an ever-increasing
amount of data; secondly, there are inconsistencies between different publishers’ and CMO’s
databases especially regarding ownership splits. This means DSP’s are often asked to pay more than
100% of royalties owed, in which case they delay payments until conflict situations are resolved.
2. Evolution of the Recorded Music Industry
Recent History
The downfall of physical sales and the new digital era brought about a new paradigm for the music
industry. During the 2000’s, the landscape was dominated by Apple, via its iTunes store and the
sales of downloads. From the late 2000’s to present, YouTube has been dominating the video
outlook, with a pioneer User Generated Content approach. But in 2006, a new company with a
disruptive business model promising to change the music industry was born - a Swedish start-up by
5
the name of Spotify. The Spotify App was launched two years later with a pioneer, music-exclusive
streaming model that included a subscription tier and a free, ad-supported service available by
invitation in order to cope with the vast growth. 12 The launch was made possible due to the
achievement of the much-needed licensing deals with major labels, providing Spotify with a wide
range of catalogue available to its users.
In 2011, Spotify hit the 1 million paid subscribers milestone across Europe, out of over 6 million
users13 (see Appendix 3). At the same time, the company was in the midst of raising $100 million,
valuing the service at $1 billion. One year later, the number of paid subscribers had risen to 4 million,
out of a total of 15 million users.14 The strong growth of the user base has continued ever since (see
figure below). From 2012 to 2017, total number of users has grown at an annual growth rate of 41%,
while paid subscriptions had risen by more than 50%.
Spotify’s revenues have grown consistent with the increase in usage (see Appendix 4). Over the
period of six years, the service increased its income by an annual growth rate of 55%. Due to the
nature of Spotify’s business model, losses followed the same path - the downwards trend increased
by roughly the same proportion, illustrating perfectly the scope of the challenges of music streaming
economics.
Streaming Wars Begin
Apple started its own music streaming service in June 2015, and quickly the streaming race seemed
like it’d became a two-horse race - six months after launching, the service had reached 10 million
paying subscribers (see Appendix 5), having reached the same amount of subscriptions that took
Spotify six years to accomplish.15
From 2014 to mid 2017, Spotify managed to keep a relatively strong market share position (see
Appendix 6). By the end of the second quarter of 2017, Spotify’s market share stood at 37%,
challenged only by a distant second placed Apple Music with 18%. The latter service grew faster in
percentage terms, but Spotify added more net subscribers. Apple Music’s impressive start, as
highlighted in the graphic, failed to keep up with the growth rate of its debut year. Often called the
“dark horse”, Amazon’s growth in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable. Its market
share more than doubled from 2015 to 2017, reporting 16 million paying subscribers by June 2017.
This represented a notable increase of 14 million customers in just 3 years.
Spotify
In 2017, Spotify relaunched its “Spotify for Artists” analytics platform, a service that provides
comprehensive data to artists and managers alike and sets one of the main differentiators between
the Swedish company and their competitors. Spotify also started investing in non-musical content
such as podcasts and video.16 The company has experimented integrating short videos onto its most
prolific playlists and is looking to invest in original video. The service has also entered partnerships
with ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and Eventbrite in order to display concerts in its
platform and redirect fans access to purchasing services. Spotify has also presented a new system
for labels to pitch their music via a new section of their website, making the process easier and more
transparent.17
6
Perhaps the most interesting and intriguing actions taken by the company were its acquisitions.
Spotify made a number of strategic acquisitions in order to enhance the quality of the platform and
user experience. One of them was Sonalytic, a company that develops an audio detection
technology that tracks copyrighted material, aids in music discovery and identifies songs, audio clips
and mixed content.18 Spotify also acquired Niland, makers of an artificial intelligence technology that
enhances music search and recommendation capabilities.19 In order to extend such efforts to video
recommendation tools, the company also bought MightyTV. 20 Cloud base, collaborative online
music studio startup Soundtrap was incorporated as well, a move that positions the company in the
realm of music creation, besides distribution.21 Spotify further acquired startup Mediachain Labs,
whose blockchain technology aims at correctly linking artists and songwriters to songs available on
the service, 22 an issue that has costed Spotify $20 million in a law suit settlement with music
publishers who repeatedly fail to get paid due to the lack of clear, trustworthy data.23
Apple Music
Streaming’s second largest player, Apple Music, followed suit with a high-profile acquisition of
Shazam.24 This move creates synergies in the realms of music identification and recognition, as well
as a deeper integration of Shazam into products such as Siri with the final aim to boosting Apple
Music’s penetration.
Apple, that had been focusing on exclusives in previous years, shifted its focus into original video
content. Investments were made in exclusive documentaries featuring artists by the likes of Pink,
Harry Styles and Sam Smith, as well as video shows such as Planet of The Apps. It is believed that
the company’s ultimate goal is to produce original, hit TV shows like Netflix’s Game of Thrones, and
eventually create a video streaming subscription model, with Apple Music driving some of the
conversion rate.
The streaming wars took on a new stand when Apple Music and music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine
said at an event in November 2017 that music streaming business is “not a great business”25 and
that Spotify would have to “figure out a way to get that audience to buy something else” since big
corporations such as Apple and Amazon mainly utilize their streaming services as an ancillary revenue
driver. During Apple’s November 2017 earnings calls, CFO Luca Maestri stated that “a few years
ago, we were actually declining in music; now with the streaming service in addition to the download
business, the business is growing again”.26 He had also added that Apple’s services department was
the size of a Fortune 100 company, with growth expected to double in coming years.27
Amazon
Often called the dark horse of the streaming landscape, Amazon’s streaming growth had been
anything but remarkable. Coming third after Spotify and Apple Music, the service saw a stunning
growth of net 13 million subscribers in the space of two years (from 3 million in mid 2015 to 16
million), representing a market share gain of nearly 100% in that period (from around 5% to 10%).
Amazon’s business strategy towards streaming differs greatly from “pure play” platforms such as
Spotify. The company offered two services: Amazon Prime Music, a fully bundled streaming model
with a limited catalogue, and Amazon Music Unlimited, with a wholly licensed music offer that mimics
that of Spotify and Apple Music. The former model offers a unique value proposition, targeting lower
spending, casual fans with a curated experience rather than higher spending music fans who want
7
access to a full catalog. Amazon also offers the Unlimited model for $3.99 with the Echo, a move
that’s inspired by Apple’s bundle approach towards streaming and that opens up new, older
customers who seek in home experiences rather than music on the go. After free shipping, that
retains the highest number of prime subscriptions, streaming video and music are the main
acquisition drivers for Amazon, which priority is to convert its massive online retail customers into
Prime members.
The two main factors that drove Amazon to a strong growth in an already established and highly
competitive market place were making Prime Music free for Prime users and the use of music as an
early use context for Alexa and the Echo.28 These two differentiators gave Amazon a competitive
advantage as they have opened up untapped audiences that other competitors had failed to reach.
Amazon’s Prime strategy with its triad of services (free shipping, video and music) had two main
effects on the streaming market - it expanded the market and it positioned Amazon as a leading
force for the following phase in streaming. The first phase was built around the desktop, with the
second being delivering personal, mobile experiences with offline music. This stage was tailored to
younger customers who valued accessing music on the go. Streaming demographics reflected that
– 16 to 24-year-olds were the largest single group (25% of total users), while under 40’s made just
under 70% of the market. Amazon’s in house, curated experience addresses the over 40’s market,
who value music in their homes. This age group is also more likely to buy smart speakers (in the UK,
consumers over 30 are twice as likely to have a speaker compared to 16-24). This means the
battleground for home speakers, and Amazon’s music strategy along with it, will take place for age
groups over 30 and begin a third stage in the streaming market led by older, lean back audiences
with music at point of access.
In May 2018, Google introduced its latest music subscription service – YouTube Music29. After several
failed attempts at persuading customers to opt for the company’s service (such as Google Play and
YouTube Red), the company is confident that this time around, YouTube users will be more likely to
convert to paid members. The service is casted in the same mold as Spotify’s and Apple’s, offering
a free, ad-supported tier along with a $10 a month subscription, but if Google is able to convert
even a small percentage of YouTube users, the market will see yet another successful music
streaming platform come to fruition, constituting a major threat to Spotify, Apple and Amazon.
Spotify and Deezer are the only “stand alone” global streaming players. This means the rest of
competitors, such as Apple and Amazon, have very different priorities for their streaming offers they need not to turn a profit in the near future, as long as they drive ancillary revenue. This lack of
incentive results in a low pressure on labels to drive down their high rates. What’s more, such tactic
might drive the stand-alone competitors to their ground, a move that is surely welcomed by these
players.
Streaming Wars Go Global
Besides western companies who fight for global supremacy, a series of regional players with great
potential have been on the rise (see Appendix 7). From QQ Music in China and MelON in South
Korea to Gaana and Saavn in India - these services rely mostly on regional catalogue and have been
experiencing important growth in their own markets. For western companies to win in these
8
emerging markets, investments in local catalogue and operations have to be made. The same
reversely applies to these services’ aims of going global.
Tencent
Tencent Music, a division of Chinese tech giant Tencent, operated not only the most popular
streaming service in China (QQ Music) but also the second and third (Kugou and Kuwo, respectively).
Like Apple and Amazon, Tencent’s main streaming service has been a driver for ancillary revenue this time on the popular messenger app QQ Messenger. The company’s three streaming services
had 15 million paid subscribers and accounted for 77% of the Chinese music market. QQ Music
alone had 200 monthly active users.30
Among the factors explaining the considerable shift in the Chinese music market from plagued
privacy to an early adoption of freemium streaming services are the government’s crackdown on
piracy, the increased willingness to pay from Chinese consumers through low cost pricing policy
(more on this point in 4.2) and region-specific engaging features such as in-app karaoke, and the
company’s ability to strike highly positive deals with labels through a huge clout mainly built upon
the majority of local catalogue consumption.
Tencent’s global media ambitions where marked by several high-profile deals, including with Spotify
and Gaana. The former one saw Tencent and Spotify agree on acquiring minority stakes in each
other businesses.31 The Chinese company further diversified its streaming portfolio by leading a
$115 million funding round in Indian streaming service Gaana, along with other minority stakes in
companies such as Snap, Inc.3233 that aim at position the company as a global digital media player.
Its strategic portfolio of minority investments may be conditioned by government policies - the
Chinese government, in 2017, announced restrictions on the amount of overseas spending of
national companies34 - but it gives the company influence and benefits of a global expansion without
the risks and resources required by majority ownerships.
In December 2017, Tencent announced it was seeking a new funding at a $10 billion valuation ahead
of an initial public offering revealed earlier in April of that year.35
Melon
In South Korea, music streaming service Melon has been experiencing a notable growth since its
parent company Loen Entertainment was acquired by Kakao Corp, a Korean internet company
makers of a popular messenger app, in 2016.36 The service’s main focus was its home market, and
as of mid 2017 counted 5.6 million subscribers, a 27% growth compared to the previous year’s
numbers.
Saavn
Launched in 2007, Indian service Saavn initiated the transition from download piracy to online music
streaming. Reigning alone until 2015, the service saw the entry of several competitors to the Indian
market including Gaana and Apple Music. The company reported 18 million active users in 2015
and had 2.4 million paid subscribers as of mid 2017.37
9
3. Adapting to Times
Evolving Structures and Strategies
Pricing strategy is one of the most pivotal decisions within the music streaming market. The
traditional $9.99 pricing model did a good job establishing the market with a simple pricing
proposition and educating consumers for an appropriate price for music (see Appendix 8). However,
it seems this price is higher than most consumers are willing to pay for music and lower than what
higher spending fans could pay. This is why streaming platforms have resorted to telco bundles and
aggressive discounts, as they convert free users into subscribers at a higher pace, though the
resulting loss of revenue may not be totally worth it, with average revenue per user steadily
decreasing as time goes by. Now that streaming adoption is growing and moving away from early
adopters, pricing innovation is more important than ever, but several hurdles arise.
Midia consumer research data shows that almost 70% of the 9.99 price opportunity in mature
markets has already been tapped (see Appendix 9). Within these countries, some are saturated Sweden has 94% subscriber penetration - while others, for instance Australia, sit at 53%. Big markets
that are still attached to physical sales (Germany and Japan) represent some of the highest potential
for growth in established markets for streaming penetration.
Research also shows that demand for fully licensed streaming services (known as “All You Can Eat”
or AYCE”) is relatively inelastic. Of the consumers surveyed by Midia, just under 17% stated they
were willing to pay 9.99 while 21.5% said they would pay 6.99. While this is a notable difference,
that shows the 6.99 model is the one with highest potential to grow customer base, it is not enough
to open a broad new market opportunity. Aggressive discounts of AYCE subscriptions practiced by
streaming services, and platforms like YouTube are to blame for the lack of mid-tier audiences’
willingness to pay. This was evident when Apple Music unsuccessfully tried to push for a 7.99 model.
There is also a considerable opportunity for a super-premium, 19.99 model to better tap higher
spending fans that were used to spend much more than 9.99 during the physical era. However,
solely creating new pricing models without investing in better user experiences, thus giving
consumers proper reasons for a higher spending in music, will not do the job. Almost 20% of
surveyed subscribers said they were interested in an unlimited, on demand service with offline
playback, high definition audio, artist exclusives and live streamed concerts. This means significant
investment is needed for streaming platforms to increase their value proposition. Higher audio
quality alone is not enough, as Tidal’s poor subscriber growth over the years has proved.
A comparison between music and video streaming pricing strategies shows that music streaming
pricing is considerably less varied and segmented. As of February 2017, there were 17 different
video streaming services in the US, compared to only 8 for music streaming. Video streaming
subscriptions had prices ranging from 1.99 to $40 a month, with 4.99 being the most common price
point. These pricing strategies reflect a more diverse product offering, with several features such as
original content and 4k movie quality successfully creating a differentiation between services and
price tags. The music streaming pricing landscape is dominated by 9.99 model, with pricing ranging
from 3.99 for the bundled Amazon Prime Music service to the 24.99 platform Rokmobile, a bundled
service that includes a mobile tariff.
10
Regarding emerging markets, the current pricing strategies are more varied (see Appendix 10).
Prices are generally lower in USD terms, but a GDP Purchasing Power Parity analysis reveals
surprisingly different outcomes depending on each country. Using US GDP PPP as a reference point,
QQ Music, the leading Chinese streaming service, charges the equivalent price of 6.69; Lebanon’s
Anghami’s price of 4.99 is equivalent of $20 and Spinlet, a Nigerian service, charges the equivalent
of almost $100. This creates both a great opportunity as well as challenge for streaming services: on
the one hand, emerging markets are crucial for the next stage of development of streaming
companies, but in order to lower these real prices they need to be able to secure better deals with
rights holders with lower payments. Failing to do so and the streaming services are left to telco
bundles and ad supported models to reach sufficiently high penetration rates.
In sum, there is a clear opportunity to create a more dynamic pricing strategy, one that reflects the
more mature phase of streaming growth, through both premium offers and pricing innovation in the
mid-tier range. After having conquered the early adopters, streaming platforms have been investing
in technology such as better recommendation tools as the audience shifts to early majority. This shift
in focus, however, has left the former group with a value proposition that is relatively unchanged.
There is, then, a clear case for premium offers, adding a new range of product offerings such as
interactive artist videos and stories that appeal to super fans. The sum of these new services creates
a compelling case for these fans to spend the extra amount, hence streaming services can better
capitalize on this loyal, first audience.
Effects on Usage – B2C
Streaming has brought about deep changes to music consumption in recent years, a consequence
that technology has had throughout the history of the music industry. Prior to 1968, singles were
king. This format was disrupted with the introduction of LP’s, that shifted the music consumption
habits from single songs to compilations of them. Such trend continued in time and peak with the
golden CD era, only to be disrupted once again this time with downloads and the .99$ per-song
iTunes model. The rise of streaming and playlisting, and consequent decline in downloads, is
perpetuating this shift, while creating an ever-bigger increase in differences between consumption
from younger, digital audiences and older, physical ones.
Much like the customer audiences of streaming services in general, playlist consumption is driven by
younger audiences, peaking in the age group 25-34 (see Appendix 11). In stark contrast, older
audiences’ consumption of playlists ranks below the weighted average of 7%, falling to as much as
1% in customers with 55+ years old.
This creates a wide generational gap that is visible in sales charts provided by the industry - in 2016,
for instance, Elvis Presley’s “The Wonder of You” compilation album ranked number one in the UK
and sold 1.6 million copies throughout the world. At the same time, the artist amassed over 300
million streams on Spotify, far from that year’s most streamed artist, Drake, that gathered 4.7 billion.
Following the same pattern, younger users are also more likely to create playlists, a key performance
indicator for streaming platforms to gauge whether or not their users are engaged with the platform.
At the same time, playlist user growth has slowed compared to total streaming user growth. Using
Spotify as an example, the platform saw a growth of 67% in subscriptions in 2017 while only six of
the most followed playlists grew their following at a higher pace (see Appendix 12). What is more,
playlist consumption growth rates slowed considerably towards the end of 2017 - RapCaviar’s
11
monthly growth rate went from 10% in May of 2017 to 4.1% in October and 2.6% by January 2018.
Among the outperformers, Beast Mode, a work out playlist, scored the highest growth rate,
illustrating the curious fact that for many users, music consumption is not an end experience but one
that complements another activity. This is also visible in the growth of playlists such as Verano
Forever and Peaceful Piano, the latter often used to sleep or study. Pop, Latin and Rock were the
music genres that outperformed the subscriber growth of Spotify.
The rise of paid subscribers on streaming platforms and slowed playlist consumption growth
suggests that streaming is entering a more mature stage of its life cycle, moving away from early
adopters to new users. Streaming’s early adopters had to build playlists because the alternative they
faced was a search bar. Now, after hefty investments and improvements in curation and
recommendation systems, they don’t need this lean-in effort in order to have a great listening
experience. Interestingly, voice activation systems that are at an early adoption stage will also shape
the future of streaming and drive another era of growth to playlist consumption since users will most
likely request for genres instead of specific artists.
Platforms and Artists – B2B
Due to the nature of streaming platforms, the relationship between creators and services has often
been unstable. One of the ways streaming companies can differentiate themselves from competitors
is to create new, powerful B2B tools that help artists and managers. This is especially true for Spotify,
that has invested heavily on such services since early on, both through in-house development and
acquisitions.
The main tool Spotify offers to content creators is “Spotify for Artists”, a platform where artists and
their managers can keep track of a sizable amount of streaming data on their music over time - from
playlist rankings, streams and followers to their gender and location.38 Via a desktop or an app
version, artists can update their profile, pictures and biography. They can learn about their listeners,
keeping track of the number of streams and followers over time. The tool also allows for artists to
know in real time what songs are performing better and where they are placed. Spotify for Artists
also allow artists to promote concerts, linking their profile with ticketing platforms such as
Ticketmaster and Songkick. Furthermore, the platform lets artists sell merchandise through a
partnership with Merchbar.39
Acquiring innovative technology companies has also been a way for Spotify to bring in artist friendly
platforms. The most famous of them, Echo Nest, has brought the company a series of tools that help
playlist creators manage their playlists efficiently. One of these services is “Smarter Playlists”,40 an
automated playlist creation program that allows users to set rules and create programmed playlists
via a simple graphic user interface. Another playlist managing service is “Sort Your Music”, 41 a
platform that shows users how Spotify analyses music through eight different attributes such as
energy or danceability. Users can then sort their playlists using filters to better manage these
different characteristics.
Recently, in order to celebrate International Women’s Day, and since top tier artists are male, Spotify
released a tool that shows the gender breakdown of artists users listen to.42 This tool also creates
“equalized” playlists, recommending new, female artists with the aim of balancing listening and
supporting underrepresented creators.
12
Apple Music first resisted creating a similar analytics platform for their artists but, due to the success
of their rival, they announced in January 2018 a beta version of “Apple Music for Artists”.43 The
platform is similar to Spotify’s, breaking down data such as audience gender and streams location.
Apple Music for Artists comes with the plus of linking to the artist iTunes profile, thus showing song
and album purchases in comparison with streaming analytics.
13
4. Future of Streaming Wars
The music streaming run has been nothing short of remarkable - it arguably turned a whole industry
away from a long period of recession into a new era of growth, only due to the effective use of
technology and innovative value propositions that would not have been possible in any other time
in the business’s history.
As of 2018, however, music streaming business models are yet to be robust - built upon the valuable
new consumption proposition and continuous reinvestment in platform growth while failing to
effectively address the expensive cost structure, they are still to find a sustainable path to
profitability. While most global services ride on the back of hefty tech corporations that see
streaming as a way to drive profitable ancillary revenue, the world’s leading music streaming
platform is one of the few stand-alone platforms with increased pressure to turn the corner on its yet
unprofitable business model. What is more, Asian companies are, for the first time, keen on joining
the battleground for streaming domination, as their services experience extraordinary growth on the
back of flourishing economies.
Questions then arise on how to move forward for an industry that has as much challenges as
opportunities for growth. How can Spotify turn a profit? What strategies can Apple and Amazon’s
music streaming companies take to win the streaming war? What will the role of Asian giants such
as Tencent be in the future streaming landscape?
14
Appendices
15
Appendix 1. Global Record Music Revenues, 1999-2016 ($US billions)
Source: Compiled from IFPI Global Music Report.
16
Appendix 2. Licensing Models, CD and Streaming
Source: Compiled by authors.
17
Appendix 3. Spotify Users, 2011-2017 (millions)
Free Users
Change
Paid Users
Change
1
Total Users
Mar-11
6
7
Sep-11
8
33%
2
100%
10
Sep-12
11
38%
4
100%
15
Dec-12
15
36%
5
25%
20
Mar-13
18
20%
6
20%
24
May-14
30
67%
10
67%
40
Dec-14
45
50%
15
50%
60
Jun-15
55
22%
20
33%
75
Dec-16
78
42%
48
140%
126
Jun-17
80
3%
60
25%
140
Dec-17
88
10%
71
18%
159
Source: Spotify
18
Appendix 4. Spotify Revenue vs Losses, 2011-2017 (€ millions)
Revenues
Change
Losses
Change
2011
188
-45.4
2012
430
129%
-86.7
91%
2013
747
74%
-57.8
-33%
2014
1085
45%
-188.1
225%
2015
1929
78%
-231.4
23%
2016
2934
52%
-539.2
133%
2017
4090
39%
-1240
130%
Source: Spotify
19
Appendix 5. Premium subscribers, Main Global Players (millions)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Dec-16
Jun-17
Amazon
Apple
Music
2.0
3.0
4.1
7.4
13.8
16.0
10.0
15.7
20.9
28.2
Deezer
6.9
6.3
5.9
6.0
4.7
6.3
Spotify
15.0
21.5
28.0
37.0
46.0
58.0
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
20
Appendix 6. Market Shares, Main Global Players (%)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Dec-16
Jun-17
Amazon
Apple
Music
4%
5%
5%
7%
10%
10%
0%
0%
13%
16%
15.7%
18%
Deezer
14%
11%
8%
6%
4%
4%
Spotify
31%
38%
36%
37%
35%
37%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
21
Appendix 7. Premium subscribers, Emerging Players (millions)
Dec-14
Jun-15
Dec-15
Jun-16
Claro Musica
KKBOX Music
1.1
1.6
1.8
Dec-16
Jun-17
1.0
2.5
2.0
2.2
2.3
Kugou
0.1
0.4
1.7
2.9
3.2
Kuwo
0.1
0.3
1.2
1.9
2.2
MelON
2.8
3.4
3.8
4.4
5.4
5.6
QQ Music
2.8
3.0
3.2
3.7
9.9
10.4
Saavn
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
2.4
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
22
Appendix 8. Existing $9.99 Streaming Music Subscribers and Remaining Bases
Subscriber Penetration
France
Additional 9.99 Opportunity
9.99
Penetration
10%
4%
71%
9%
8%
53%
UK
12%
7%
63%
Brazil
15%
6%
71%
Sweden
26%
2%
93%
US
20%
9%
69%
Average
16%
7%
70%
Australia
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
23
Appendix 9. Demand for Music Streaming by Price Point
Consumer Interest in Price
Point
Non-music subscribers likely to
adopt
6.99 Demand
22%
10%
9.99 Demand
17%
7%
19.99 Demand
8%
5%
Existing Penetration
16%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
24
Appendix 10. Purchasing Power Parity Analysis
GDP
PPP
Equivalent
9.99
pricing
Actual
pricing
PPP
Pricing
Population
Subscribers
Subscriber
penetration
Subscriber
per capita
spend
US
56,116
9.99
9.99
9.99
320
26
8.0%
0.08
China
15,424
2.75
1.84
6.69
1,357
15
1.1%
0.01
Philippines
7,387
1.32
0.90
6.84
103
Nigeria
1,114
0.20
1.96
98.73
186
Lebanon
13,963
2.49
4.99
20.05
6
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 12, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
25
Appendix 11. Penetration of User and Curated Playlists
Age
User Playlists
Curated Playlists
16-19
32%
10%
20-24
27%
12%
25-34
24%
13%
35-44
14%
5%
45-54
14%
2%
3%
1%
19%
7%
55+
Weighted Average
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 17, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
26
Appendix 12. Growth in Followers, Spotify Playlists (2017)
Playlists
YoY % Growth
Peaceful Piano
43.0%
Are & Be
47.3%
Today's Top Hits
47.7%
Verano Forever
54.2%
RapCaviar
57.2%
Rock Classics
59.3%
Get Turnt
66.6%
Baila Reggaeton
75.4%
Rock This
83.8%
¡Viva Latino!
103.5%
Global Top 50
145.0%
Beast Mode
184.6%
Spotify Paid Subscriber Growth
62.8%
Source: Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 17, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
27
Endnotes
1
Cook, James. “Spotify is vulnerable to bigger tech companies like Apple and Amazon — and its IPO won't change that”.
Business Insider. Accessed May 31, 2018.
http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-vulnerable-apple-amazon-ipo-2018-1
2
Mikolajczak, Chuck and Nellis, Stephen. “Spotify Shares Jump in Record-Setting Direct Listing”. Reuters. Accessed March
21, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spotify-ipo/spotify-shares-jump-in-record-setting-direct-listingidUSKCN1HA12B
3
Statt, Nick. “Spotify’s IPO Was Both a Success and an Uncertain Forecast for the Future of Music”. The Verge. Accessed
March 21, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/3/17194208/spotify-ipo-nyse-music-streaming-market-valuation
4
“Form F-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933 – Spotify Technology, S.A.”. United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm
5
Lynskey, Dorian. “How the Compact Disc Lost its Shine”. The Guardian. Accessed March 23, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/28/how-the-compact-disc-lost-its-shine
6
Bond, Shannon. “Streaming Revenue to Surpass Physical Music Sales This Year”. Financial Times. Accessed March 23,
2018.
https://www.ft.com/content/94c5cdb0-4a26-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43
7
Unless otherwise attributed, all information in this section comes from Cooke, Chris, “Dissecting the Digital Dollar”
(Headley Brothers, 2015).
8 S. Passman, Donald. “All You Need to Know About the Music Industry”. Free Press, 2012.
9
Unless otherwise attributed, all information in this section comes from Cooke, Chris, “Dissecting the Digital Dollar”
(Headley Brothers, 2015).
10 S. Passman, Donald. “All You Need to Know About the Music Industry”. Free Press, 2012.
11 Daniel Gervais (ed.), Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights, second edition (Alphen aan den Rijn:
Kluwer Law International, 2010), pp. 135-167.
12
Spotify. “We’ve Only Just Begun”. Accessed March 28, 2018. https://newsroom.spotify.com/us/2008/10/07/weve-onlyjust-begun/
13
“Spotify Hits Milestone With 1 Million Subscribers”. BBC News. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-12676327
14
Sanburn, Josh. “Spotify is Growing — But Why Isn’t It Growing Faster?”. Time. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://business.time.com/2012/08/16/spotify-is-growing-but-the-idea-of-music-ownership-is-holding-it-back/
15
Addady, Michal. “Apple Music Just Did in Six Months What Took Spotify Six Years”. Fortune. Accessed March 28, 2018.
http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/apple-music-10/
16
“Form F-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933 – Spotify Technology, S.A.”. United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. Accessed March 28, 2018.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm
17
“Spotify Launches New Playlist-Pitching System for Labels”. Music Ally. Accessed March 30, 2018.
http://musically.com/2017/10/17/spotify-playlist-pitching-system/
18
Perez, Sarah. “Spotify Acquires Audio Detection Startup Sonalytic”. TechCrunch. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/07/spotify-acquires-audio-detection-startup-sonalytic/
19
Russel, Jon. “Spotify Buys AI Startup Niland to Develop its Music Personalization and Recommendations”. TechCrunch.
Accessed March 30, 2018. https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/18/spotify-buys-ai-startup-niland/
20
Perez, Sarah. “Spotify Acquires Content Recommendation Startup MightyTV”. TechCrunch. March 30, 2018.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/27/spotify-acquires-content-recommendation-startup-mightytv/
21
“Spotify acquired online music studio Soundtrap for €51 million”. Business Insider Nordic. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://nordic.businessinsider.com/spotify-reportedly-acquired-online-music-studio-soundtrap-for-51-million--/
22
“Spotify Acquires MediaChain Lab”. Spotify. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://newsroom.spotify.com/es/2017/04/26/spotify-acquires-mediachain-labs/
23
Sisario, Ben. “Spotify Reaches Settlement With Publishers in Licensing Dispute”. The New York Times. Accessed March
30, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/business/media/spotify-reaches-settlement-with-publishers-in-licensingdispute.html
24
Satariano, Adam. “Apple Buys Shazam to Boost Apple Music”. Bloomberg. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-11/apple-buys-early-iphone-app-hit-shazam-to-boost-apple-music
25
Stutz, Colin. “Jimmy Iovine Breaks Down What's Wrong With the Music Business, Warns Against Overoptimism in
Streaming: 'They're Not Making Money'”. Billboard. Accessed March 30, 2018.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8053937/jimmy-iovine-interview-whats-wrong-music-streaming-defiant-ones
26
“Apple talks music revenues: ’The business is growing again’”. Music Ally. Accessed March 30, 2018.
http://musically.com/2017/11/03/apple-talks-music-revenues-business-growing/
28
27
Miller, Chance. “Apple CFO Luca Maestri talks R&D spending, wearables growth & more in Goldman Sachs interview”.
9To5Mac. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/14/luca-maestri-apple-research-and-developmentwearables-interview/
28
Midia Research. “Reports”. Accessed April 1, 2018. https://data.midiaresearch.com/reports/
29
Nicolaou, Anna. “Google takes on Apple and Spotify with new music servisse”. Financial Times. Accessed May 31, 2018.
https://www.ft.com/content/21e0d8ca-5bec-11e8-9334-2218e7146b04
30
Jones, Rhian. “Spotify and Apple Music Will Struggle in China: Meet the Reason Why”. Music Business Worldwide.
Accessed April 1, 2018. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-and-apple-music-will-struggle-in-china-meetthe-reason-why/
31
Russel, Jon. “Spotify and Tencent Agree to Swap Stakes in Their Music Businesses”. TechCrunch. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/12/08/spotify-tencent-share-swap/
32
“Tencent Leads in Gaana’s $115 Million Funding Round”. Economic Times. Accessed April 6, 2018.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/tencent-leads-in-gaanas-115-million-fundinground/articleshow/63104276.cms
33
Lunden, Ingrid. “WeChat owner Tencent Snapped up Another 12% of Snap This Month”. TechCrunch. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/08/wechat-owner-tencent-snapped-up-another-12-of-snap-this-month/
34
Hsu, Sara. “China Tightens Overseas Investment to Reduce Risks”. Forbes. Accessed April 6, 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2017/12/22/china-tightens-overseas-investment-to-reduce-risks/#43bc48e9772c
35
Chen, Lulu Yilun. “Tencent Music Seeks Pre-IPO Funds at $10 Billion Value”. Bloomberg Technology. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-01/tencent-music-is-said-to-seek-pre-ipo-funds-at-10-billionvalue
36
Lee, Se Young. “Kakao to Buy South Korea's Top Music Streaming Operator for $1.6 Billion”. Reuters. Accessed April 6,
2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kakao-m-a-loen-ent/kakao-to-buy-south-koreas-top-music-streaming-operatorfor-1-6-billion-idUSKCN0UP01620160111
37
“Saavn Now Has 18m Monthly Active Users”. Music Ally. Accessed April 25, 2018.
http://musically.com/2015/09/25/saavn-now-18m-monthly-activeusers/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3BkWcmoJCMS9Kvjp5q9%2B6cFw%3D%3D
38
“Spotify for Artists”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://artists.spotify.com/
39
“Merchbar to Power Artist Merch on Spotify”. Spotify. Accessed April 25 2018.
https://artists.spotify.com/blog/merchbar-to-power-artist-merch
40
“Smarter Playlists”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. http://playlistmachinery.com/index.html
41
“Sort Your Music”. Spotify. Accessed April 25, 2018. http://sortyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/
42
Skelton, Eric. “Spotify Created a Tool That Analyzes How Many Female Artists You Listen To”. Pigeons&Planes.
Accessed April 25, 2018. https://pigeonsandplanes.com/news/2018/03/spotify-tool-female-artists
43
Potuck, Michael. “Apple Music for Artists Debuts as a New Analytics Dashboard for Musicians”. 9To5Mac. Accessed
April 25, 2018. https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/22/apple-music-for-artists/
29
Media of
