EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SELLING MUSIC ONLINE
Online music distribution is currently in a state of flux. Streaming, YouTube monetisation, single downloads - where does everything actually stand right now? Here we cover the most important things you need to know, starting with the industry facts and how they affect your choice about selling on the platforms. Read our summary below or the full version (click here) of this article on iMusicianDigital.com.
Industry Facts 2015: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Last year’s music industry stats haven’t proved to be music to everyone’s ears. Looking at the figures we saw that both physical and digital music sales had fallen by 11% to 257 million units sold. But thankfully that’s where the tune changes - there’s still plenty of room for optimism!
Last year’s music industry stats haven’t proved to be music to everyone’s ears. Looking at the figures we saw that both physical and digital music sales had fallen by 11% to 257 million units sold. But thankfully that’s where the tune changes - there’s still plenty of room for optimism!
Streaming - did I really hear that right?
Streaming is naturally the most controversial top in the industry at the moment. As a model in transition it was accused of not paying out enough to the artists and with YouTube going toe to to with Indie labels with their new Music Key service there certainly was a lot of scepticism among musicians. But in reality streaming services are starting to hit the right notes; their gradual rise to ubiquity and a new status quo can no longer be denied.
Streaming is naturally the most controversial top in the industry at the moment. As a model in transition it was accused of not paying out enough to the artists and with YouTube going toe to to with Indie labels with their new Music Key service there certainly was a lot of scepticism among musicians. But in reality streaming services are starting to hit the right notes; their gradual rise to ubiquity and a new status quo can no longer be denied.
While sales have dropped, streaming has grown by 54% with a 164 billion song streams being played in 2014. You might think that it’s out with the euros and in with the micro cents but as discussed at Berlin Music Week last year, streaming is the legal model that is actually finally starting to combat illegal alternatives. A completely different model to downloads, streaming generates low revenues over a long period of time, instead of providing a one-off high revenue stream like downloads or physical sales used to provide.
Whatever about the amount of money involved, compared to receiving no revenue like with torrents or YouTube’s first incarnation, streaming also has the added benefit of giving musicians reach. It gives easy access to the audience and it’s the first step to getting you known and allowing you to create opportunities to play gigs and convert casual users into‘super fans’.
Vinyl - the Long Play that keeps on turning
But he interesting facts don’t stop at streaming. As we already blogged about before, the sales of vinyl records are growing with a 52% increase on the sales figures from last year. It’s a trend many try to diminish by comparing absolute numbers, making the mistake that vinyl is meant to be back as a distribution format. The real point is that vinyl is becoming the best-selling, most personal and rewarding type of merchandising. Not only does it allow artists to express themselves through visuals and through a beautiful concrete object for the first time in decades, but it happens to please fans who end up with something more than a few digital MB. While that’s ‘just’ 9.2 million units it points to the shift in making the most of yourincome through your ‘superfans’ and it’s certainly a trend we expect to experience a crescendo in the coming year.
But he interesting facts don’t stop at streaming. As we already blogged about before, the sales of vinyl records are growing with a 52% increase on the sales figures from last year. It’s a trend many try to diminish by comparing absolute numbers, making the mistake that vinyl is meant to be back as a distribution format. The real point is that vinyl is becoming the best-selling, most personal and rewarding type of merchandising. Not only does it allow artists to express themselves through visuals and through a beautiful concrete object for the first time in decades, but it happens to please fans who end up with something more than a few digital MB. While that’s ‘just’ 9.2 million units it points to the shift in making the most of yourincome through your ‘superfans’ and it’s certainly a trend we expect to experience a crescendo in the coming year.
What is your release strategy?
Those industry stats are all well and good but what does it mean for a musician and his or her music? One thing we can say for sure is that the single is king. Given a single’s hype affect for fans and the speed at which a musician can prepare it, releasing a constant stream of singles is more efficient than producing an album over a long period of time. Only 7.5% of digital music transactions were for albums last year. It doesn’t mean the concept of an LP is dead - it just means that you should wait until the time is right before putting your energy into such a project.
Those industry stats are all well and good but what does it mean for a musician and his or her music? One thing we can say for sure is that the single is king. Given a single’s hype affect for fans and the speed at which a musician can prepare it, releasing a constant stream of singles is more efficient than producing an album over a long period of time. Only 7.5% of digital music transactions were for albums last year. It doesn’t mean the concept of an LP is dead - it just means that you should wait until the time is right before putting your energy into such a project.
EPs are also proving to be very popular, especially in the electronic scene. It’s there we can see how improvements in technology are slowly pushing people away from MP3s to larger lossless formats but for the moment MP3 is still the most popular listening format for most music fans.
Read all about the most important platforms and our tips to release your music yourself and increase your sales on iMusicianDigital.com
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