Angela Rizzo
The music industry is
constantly evolving as digital technology expands. With it becoming easier than
ever to obtain and consume music for free, artists and record companies have to
find creative ways to make money. There has been an increasing shift in the use
of mobile devices for music consumption as consumers become more tech savvy. This
has placed a large importance on mobile applications to influence the ways in
which fans experience music. Mobile applications have the potential to be
utilized “as a tool to excite fans, generate awareness, increase engagement and
perhaps even result in increased overall consumption” (Nielsen). All of this
means more money for the industry.
The amount and variety of
mobile music applications has grown tremendously in the past few years making
it a lucrative and appealing area for artists and labels to engage fans.
According to Music Week, “music is
now the third biggest app category for revenues” (Jones). There are many
different types of music apps that dominate in app stores. The apps with the
highest revenue are music streaming services. Although many of these streaming
services, such as Pandora and Spotify, are available for desktop computers,
their mobile apps have proved to be the source for the majority of listening.
At least this is the case for Spotify who reported, “mobile devices now account
for over half of all listening” and this is all thanks to its launch of a free
mobile app (Peoples). This is perhaps the reason for Spotify’s subscriber
growth, the sector growth that labels want to see because it means for profit
for them. More paid subscribers for music streaming sites has beneficial
effects for all parties of the music industry. Mobile apps are largely to
credit for this.
Another type of influential
mobile application is one that facilitates the discovery of music. A leader in
this is the app, Shazam. Shazam allows users to identify a song they are
unfamiliar with and they can then choose to download the song or share it on
social media. Aside from the profit generated by directing users to purchase
songs they have just discovered, Shazam is also useful for labels and agents. Every
time someone “shazams” a song (which accumulates to about 20 million searches
per day), the app collects data about this action and a collection of this data
is useful in determining where and what songs will be hits (Thompson). But do
you think this data is a reliable way of determining hits or is it just a way
of influencing the creation of similar music? Some music professionals are
worried that “the reliance on data was
leading to a “clustering” of styles and genres, promoting a dispiriting
sameness in pop music” (Thompson). Do you agree? Either way, it is still a
popular app that has had an impact on the way we consume music and the way the
industry distributes music.
A
growing trend in mobile music apps is the creation of interactive artist apps.
This has proved to be beneficial in the industry’s strive for revenue. Fans
want more interaction with their favorite artists and they are increasingly
looking to mobile apps to get that interaction. What artist apps do is provide
access to exclusive content and features that allow fans to engage with artists
on a deeper level. The intention is that these apps will increase an artist’s
fan base and encourage the further consumption of their music and products.
Many artists already have apps associated with them for this reason. Sony Music
has jumped on this trend and has distributed apps for its artists that “feature their latest news, streaming music and
videos, photo galleries, tour schedules, ticketing options, chat and more”
(Rao). Nielsen reports that giving fans this type of exclusive content
can really increase revenue streams for artists and their labels. Oftentimes, artists will release an app to go along
with an upcoming album to increase buzz and give fans a more exclusive look.
Lady Gaga created a hugely successful app for her most recent Artpop album that “allows fans to
listen to the Artpop album (if you’ve already purchased it), create
animated gifs, access song lyrics, see a countdown for additional content, and
play around with a number of other nifty features” (Nielsen). Though not one
particular artist app has made it onto the list of most profitable music apps,
there is still the potential that these apps can be beneficial to music sales.
Do you think apps like these have a significant effect on profit or are they
just apps that will only be used in the short term until the newness of the
album it promotes wares off? Could these apps be the key to raising revenue or
are they just a waste of time?
There is no doubt that
mobile applications have had an impact on the music industry. From streaming
apps to discovery apps to interactive artist apps, the trend in mobile
consumption of music has increased. If these trends continue, the music
industry has the potential to see a substantial increase in profit. They have
changed how artists generate revenue online and are bound to continue to do so.
Do you think the use of mobile music applications will continue to increase and
dominate the industry? Is this a good or bad thing for the future of the music
industry?
Works Cited
"Getting Appy: How Artists Use Music Apps to
Engage Fans." Nielsen.com 21
Nov. 2013. Web.
Jones, Rhian. "Music App Revenues Up 77% in
2013, Pandora Highest Earner." Music Week 31
Jan. 2014. Web.
Peoples, Glenn. “Spotify’s
Subscriber Growth Accelerates, Appears Fueled by Mobile Listeners.” Billboard 13 Jan. 2015. Web.
Rao, Leena. “Mobile Roadie
and Sony Partner to Launch Mobile Apps for Music Artists.” TechCrunch 20 Jan. 2011. Web.
Thompson, Derek. “The Shazam
Effect.” The Atlantic 17 Nov. 2014.
Web.
By: Kara Felegian
ReplyDeleteNice job Ang! It is very true how today there are a lot more people using mobile apps for music instead of purchasing individual songs. As a Spotify and Pandora user myself, I cannot remember the last time that I purchased a song. The reality of the matter is that I am not the only one doing this. There has been a large growth in the Spotify’s subscriber growth and Pandora, which means more profit for them. According to the article by Rhian Jones, “revenues on iOS and Android grew by 77% in 2013, with Pandora topping the chart as the highest earning music app in the world.” The great thing about music apps like Pandora is that it gives users content when they want it. The use of this streaming media greatly increased in 2014 and I believe is going to continue to grow over time (Jones).
Although there are sites from Pandora and Spotify that have multiple artists, there have been artist like Gaga and Jay-Z who have started their own apps for music release (Nielson). In all honesty, I am not sure how I feel about the interactive artists apps. I think that they could be fun for fans to learn more about artists that they like, but I’m not fully convinced by the article how much the apps help the industry and artists as a whole. The artists that were used as examples in the article by Nielson are already strong and have a fan base, particularly Gaga and Jay-Z. I don’t think that they could really help the profit of the artists because the fans of these artists would already be purchasing the content anyways. If the app had different content entirely I think that would interests avid fans which is a great bonus. This is a little harsh, but I think they are a waste of time unless they are just for pleasure. The way that Taylor Swift used modern media like Twitter and Instagram I think was brilliant however. She reached out to fans who were already connected to her through following instead of having them download another app. By posting on social media it gave her buzz about her upcoming album at a very low cost to her (Kamps).
Overall, I agree that music apps will continue to dominate the industry. Today there is an equal split of genders both male and female using mobile streaming media, which is good because it will allow music companies to reach out to all. Younger fans most popularly use streaming, which is not surprising since we grew up in the digital age (Nielson). As users we are always on the go and we want our music to come with us. This idea of the mobile user was also talked about in the article by Garrett Kamps. He said that “71 percent of Americans now keep in their pockets, whether tables or phones, everyone’s a mobile music power user” (Kamps). This is not all a bad thing. There are a lot of people who are taking advantage of the free streaming with advertisements as well as the pay through prescription for music. According to the article, “Spotify’s numbers swelled to 50 million active users, 12.5 million of which are paying subscribers” (Kamps). It will be interesting to see these numbers in another 5 years and see how much they change or if they stay consistent.
Works Cited
"Getting Appy: How Artists Use Music Apps to Engage Fans." Nielsen.com 21 Nov. 2013. Web.
Jones, Rhian. "Music App Revenues Up 77% in 2013, Pandora Highest Earner." Music Week 31 Jan. 2014. Web.
Kamps, Garrett. "How Mobile Finally Took Over the Music Industry in 2014." Billboard. 16 Dec. 2014. Web.
Jake Carleton
ReplyDeleteBlog Post 6
Angela, you make a lot of really good points when it comes to the utilization of music applications by music consumers. I also learned a good amount from your post as well. For example, I had no idea that artists have begun to create their own applications for smartphones in order to gauge a better connection with their audience of listeners. I think it is a great idea for Sony to have their artists do this, because the majority of people have smartphones, therefore the artists would be able to reach their audience better than ever. I also like how you connected the relevant applications such as Spotify and Shazam in your post. I myself utilize Shazam, and find it very useful to find the names of songs, which I then use to listen to that song more and in turn it gains the artist popularity. This is why Shazam is great for artists, because not only can it tell people the name of your track, but it can connect the user to purchase the track, or post the track to their social media account. However, when it comes to Spotify I do not use this application, as I use a similar application called Rhapsody. Rhapsody is basically the same thing as Spotify, but you pay for the service, therefore there are no advertisements and the application also has the ability to skip and choose exactly which song you want to listen to, which I believe differentiates it from Spotify. This application is the only thing I use however to listen to music, therefore I am streaming music when I listen to it, and if it were not for the application I would have no music on my phone. My usage of the applications enables me as a music listener.
In regards to the article titled Streaming Is King as Downloads Fade Away by Steve Knopper, it is written that, “Total video and audio streams jumped from 50 billion in the first half of 2013 to 70 billion this year, an increase of 42 percent, while download sales continue to bust, with albums dropping 15 percent and tracks 13 percent.” This quote makes perfect sense when I think about my listening habits, as I said above that I mostly only stream my music through the application Rhapsody, while if it is not on that application I will go to Youtube and stream the video through that application. I believe that this is the future of music, as many people will continue to use applications such as Pandora, and they will discover new music and this will be the new future of discovering music and artists. In regards to Pandora, the article titled Music app revenues up 77% in 2013, Pandora highest earner – report, by Rhian Jones, we learn the stats that “Pandora reported a 13% increase in listener hours year-on-year in December. The internet radio service gathered 1.58 billion listener hours last month, up from 1.39 billion in December 2012.” This numbers are insane, and just show how many people are utilizing these applications to get the music that they are listening to. Not only is the listening audience for the application growing year by year, but it is also changing the listening habits of music consumers all over the world. It will be interesting to see how streaming will affect the listening habits of people in the future, and will be decisive in whether or not people will be choosing their favorite artists to listen to, or just dealing with the track that they are dealt and listening from there.
Works Cited:
Knopper, Steve. “Streaming Is King as Downloads Fade Away.” Rolling Stone. 7 July 2014. Web.
Jones, Rhian. “Music App Revenues Up 77% in 2013, Pandora Highest Earner.” Music Week. 31 Jan. 2014. Web.
Antonia Jones
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading your post and the other articles, I noticed that two apps are usually mentioned when talking about the digital streaming music industry. Pandora and Spotify have continued to dominate the market. As stated in the Rolling Stones article, “Total video and audio streams jumped from 50 billion in the first half of 2013 to 70 billion this year, an increase of 42 percent” (Knopper). Streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify have continued to have tremendous success. I also have no doubt they will continue to be successful.
I have to admit that I’m a dedicated iTunes user. I choose to buy all my music because I feel as though more artist then we realize are struggling to compete with these music streaming services. I also know that illegal downloads have really hurt the music industry as well. But I feel as though one particular mass medium platform is exceedingly underrated and under appreciated. It’s the radio.
I truly believe people fail to realize how popular the radio still is. As stated by arbitron.com, “92% of everyone in this country listens to the radio each week” (Radio Today By the Numbers Fall 2013). Think about it. Normally, we get into our car, turn the engine on, turn on the radio, and drive away. Sometimes it’s just easier to do that then turn on the Bluetooth or plug in our AUX cord to stream music from our cell phone. We also don’t realize that there are numerous types of radio. The most prevalent ones are AM/FM, HD radio, satellite radio, and internet radio.
Since we are on the topic of apps, I found it upsetting that iHeartRadio was never mentioned. It also doesn't make sense since this app has had a lot of success. As stated in a NY Times article, “Pandora had 2.2 million listener sessions for the month, with iHeartRadio coming in No. 2 at about 335,000 sessions” (John Quain). I really admire iHeartRadio. And there are numerous reasons why.
(JONES CONT.)
ReplyDeleteiHeartMedia, formally known as Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, has managed to take an original mass medium form and transform it compete in a digital world. iHeartRadio is just as good, if not better, then Pandora and Spotify in my mind. The company and the app has done some amazing things for the music industry that apps like Spotify and Pandora can’t say they have done. In fact, it seems as though tons of artist have a problem with streaming services, cough, Taylor Swift.
This free app allows you to listen to live radio regardless of where you are. It also allows it’s users to make playlist of your favorite artists and songs. They also have similar features such as Pandora where users can up thumb and down thumb things they like or dislike. But what iHeartRadio has managed to do which no one else has done is they have created an iHeartRadio music festival. Their festival has had a ton of success. So much that they will also hold a iHeartRadio Country Festival this year.
I have Pandora on my phone. I have Spotify on my computer. But, I cannot say that I use them regularly. I also don't completely support them. I like to listen to the radio, buy music, and use the iHeartRadio app. I don't doubt that streaming services will continue to have success, but I won’t be shocked if in the coming years artists begin to fight against them.
Work Cited
“Radio Today By the Numbers Fall 2013." Arbitron.com November 2013. Web.
Knopper, Steve. "Streaming Is King as Downloads Fade Away." Rolling Stone. 7 July 2014. Web.
Quain, John. “Digital Success Comes to Radio Broadcaster.” NY Times. 27 June 2014. Web.