For decades, the record industry has turned its attention and investment to one thing above any other: the hit record. Yet new figures out of the US this week suggest that hits – as in blockbuster, industry-dominant megahits – are increasingly becoming a lesser-spotted beast.
Source: Are we witnessing the death of the streaming megahit?
According to MRC Data‘s new mid-year report, the six months to end of June 2021 saw catalog music’s share of total album consumption in the US rise to 66.4% (whereby ‘catalog’ reflects anything released over 18 months before a consumer made a purchase and/or pressed play).
Source: Over 66% of all music listening in the US is now of catalog records, rather than new releases
During 2021’s initial half, global song streams hiked by about 27.5 percent, whereas overall U.S. album sales grew substantially thanks in large part to 108.2 percent year-over-year vinyl LP sales growth, according to a newly released music industry report. MRC Data shed light upon these and other telling music industry trends in its mid-year analysis, covering January 1st through July 1st of 2021.
Source: Music Industry Streaming, Vinyl Sales Grew Greatly During Q1 and Q2 ’21
Over the weekend came evidence that, at least for the biggest franchise films and with a carefully calibrated pricing strategy, theatrical distribution and streaming can coexist. At least for now. The long-delayed Marvel-Disney movie generated $80 million at the domestic box office and another $60 million on the Disney+ streaming platform.
Source: A big opening for ‘Black Widow’ gives a taste of how theaters and streaming can coexist.
Creators are people who build audiences online and find a way to make money from those audiences. They are usually young, digital natives who are trying to make a living from their social media work. And big Silicon Valley investors increasingly see them as the next financial vein to be tapped on the internet.
Source: Hello, Content Creators. Silicon Valley’s Investors Want to Meet You.
Facebook is seeking to overcome its slow start with creators as it tries to stay culturally relevant. The social network once regularly originated memes like Chewbacca Mom and the A.L.S. Ice Bucket Challenge. But those were years ago. As YouTube, TikTok and other rivals became increasingly popular, they produced more trends and memes.
Source: Facebook Wants to Court Creators. It Could Be a Tough Sell.
Streams from the track, which was originally created for the 2015 film High-Rise starring Tom Hiddleston and Sienna Miller, will earn revenue through SoundCloud’s fan-powered royalties system, with the band citing the payout model as the reason behind their decision to release exclusively on SoundCloud.
YouTube is comfortably the world’s largest video streaming platform, with more than 2 billion logged-in users playing music on its service every month. But increasingly, TikTok is looking less like a mere ‘frenemy’ to Alphabet’s video service – and more like a serious direct competitor.
This is the latest move by premium TV/video streamers to align themselves with their sister theatrical divisions, to gain business from high-profile movies. Other major studios — Warner Bros, Walt Disney and Paramount — have made similar arrangements with their sister company premium streaming platforms.
Source: Television News Daily: NBCU’s Peacock Accelerates 4-Month Window Deal With Universal Movies
Exact Editions, which specializes in digitizing content and selling subscriptions for magazine publishers, agrees that archived content offers a rich seam of revenue for publishers willing to take the trouble of not only digitizing their back catalogue but also making the titles easily available across the web, iOS and Android devices.
Source: Magazine publishers’ hidden treasure trove: Digital back issues