The digital music stream continues to surge. The U.S. music business is on track in 2018 to achieve double-digit growth for the third year in a row, thanks in large part to streaming. Consumer spending on music reached $4.6 billion in the first half of the year, a 10 percent increase over the first six months of 2017, according to the RIAA. And three-quarters of that revenue comes from streaming. Streaming revenue grew 28 percent for the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last…
The digital music stream continues to surge. The U.S. music business is on track in 2018 to achieve double-digit growth for the third year in a row, thanks in large part to streaming. Consumer spending on music reached $4.6 billion in the first half of the year, a 10 percent increase over the first six months of 2017, according to the RIAA. And three-quarters of that revenue comes from streaming. Streaming revenue grew 28 percent for the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year, the association also reports. Accounting for that growth: subscriptions to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal; radio services like Pandora and SiriusXM; and YouTube and the ad-supported version of Spotify, among others. With streaming has come a flood of data on how, where and when songs are consumed -- and by whom. That information drives the work of Billboard’s Digital Power Players, executives in the vanguard of their fields. At streaming services, record labels, music publishers, distributors, promoters, booking agencies, social media sites, rights organizations and more, these are the executives shaping the industry of the future.
This finance startup simplifies streaming royalty payments for musicians by paying out collaborators once they've agreed on the split--a major problem for songwriters, producers and performers. Cofounded by Milana Rabkin (30), Tim Luckow and Jovin Cronin-Wilesmith in February 2015, it manages contracts and sends out cash monthly to rights holders. The Los Angeles-based company has raised $12.5 million to date.
https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2018/music/
Inc. 30 Under 30
Inc.
If you're an independent musician, it's never been easier to drop an album. Streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music let artists distribute their music directly to fans. This new model has shaken up the music industry in a number of positive ways for musicians--but it has also come with some major headaches. Tracking payments from streams for every service distributing your music, along with the revenue splits you might owe to any collaborators, has turned into the most…
If you're an independent musician, it's never been easier to drop an album. Streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music let artists distribute their music directly to fans. This new model has shaken up the music industry in a number of positive ways for musicians--but it has also come with some major headaches. Tracking payments from streams for every service distributing your music, along with the revenue splits you might owe to any collaborators, has turned into the most tedious of accounting tasks. Stem co-founders Milana Rabkin, Tim Luckow, and Jovin Cronin-Wilesmith noticed this emerging problem and decided to team up and build a way for artists--whether they're dropping songs or films--to easily manage the financial side of their business from an online dashboard. In exchange for a 5 percent transaction fee, Stem distributes content to streaming platforms including Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube, collects the revenue earned on each platform, and pays out the earnings via PayPal to anyone who had a hand in the creation process. The service is still in private beta but it already has same famous fans: DJ Jazzy Jeff is a customer, and investors include Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk's investment arm, and Scooter Braun (who has represented Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande).
