the future of digital music and artistry - brian solis at midem 2015

Brian Solisprincipal analyst & author @briansolis

Digital Darwinism

The evolution of society and technology and its impact on behavior, expectations and customs.

Digital Darwinism isn’t a myth, it’s the result of intentional business decisions that miss opportunities

Who’s the villain?

Ad-funded on-demand is not going to sustain the entire ecosystem of the creators as well as the investors

.14 vs .81It takes 5-7 plays of a song on the streaming service’s free “tier”— which makes its money from ads—to generate the same amount of

royalties as a single play on Spotify Premium

Streaming companies argue that they pay

royalties similar to radio plays.

One could argue that radio sells music

and streaming doesn’t.

YouTube thinks offering free music videos is good for both the service and the music industry.

Spotify paid $1.57 billionYoutube paid $641 million

What is the value of music?

It’s user defined…

"Don't call it rock & roll. I was part of a generation that changed the world, and it was taken over by posers."

Billy Corgan compared new artists to sex workers, saying “once you've score a record deal, you're just the fresh stripper."

Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” – Steve Jobs

Music Streaming = Mainstreaming

WHAT WOULD THE

WORLDLOOK

LIKEIF I

COULD START

FROM SCRATCH?

You have arrived at a crossroads.

Crazy New Shit

Same Old Shit

Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love” = 134m streams

Revenue = $804,000 and $1.3 million

Like it or not, Spotify is an influential platform for discovery.

Who’s fighting for the artist?

The New Hollywood

Artists are Only “Part” of a Consumer Avatar

The artist contributes to who they are through the look and sound of their favorite songs or performers.

EXCLUSIVITYEXPERIENCEENGAGEMENT

The 3 E’s

Those people who connect with a musician

and view them as an artist are more likely

to view the albums as works of art that are

worth a premium.

$529 million was pledged to Kickstarter projects last year. 4,009 were music projects. Film and Video came in second place with 3,846 successful projects.The future of artistry is in the hands of artists.

Brian Solis

brian@altimetergroup.com

briansolis.com

Twitter: @briansolis

For more information & to buy

the books, please visit:

http://bit.ly/WTFBook

http://bit.ly/EndofBusiness

http://bit.ly/engage2