Music Biz Monday // 3.4

Every Monday, we’re sharing the latest news and information for the music industry and technology worldwide.

Get your learn on and stay in the know with Symphonic’s Music Biz Monday!

US Music Streaming Revenues Grew 30% in 2018 to Hit $7.4BN, as Subscriptions Topped 50M

The USA’s recorded music market generated $9.8bn in total retail revenues last year, of which $6.6bn made its way back to artists and labels in wholesale payments.

The remainder of that $9.8bn, of course, was retained by retailers and digital music services like Spotify.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

Record labels said Latin trap was ‘going nowhere.’ Billions of YouTube views proved them wrong.

In 2018, Latin trap was everywhere. The “Te Boté” remix — a trap juggernaut featuring Latin heavyweights Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam and Ozuna — spent 21 weeks on the Billboard 100. The rapper Anuel AA climbed Latin music charts with a slew of releases. And Bad Bunny and Ozuna logged billions of plays on Spotify and YouTube.

Unlike Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi’s 2017 viral smash “Despacito,” Latin trap didn’t need a name like Justin Bieber to launch it into the pop stratosphere. The style of bass-heavy hip-hop, derived from Southern rap traditions created by African American emcees, has always been entirely in Spanish.

\\ Read more on The Washington Post //

Pandora Launches Stories, Allowing Artists to Add Commentaries onto Playlists

With competitors unveiling new podcast and spoken-word features, Pandora has unveiled a new podcast-like feature.

Pandora has unveiled a new feature for artists.

The digital radio service has launched Stories, a new format which pairs songs with podcast-like features in a single playlist.

\\ Read more on Digital Music News //

Spotify is Getting into Sports with New Podcasting Drive

Earlier this month, Spotify boss Daniel Ek got the music industry talking by predicting that over 20% of listening on his service will cover non-music content in the years to come.

Ek’s forecast came off the back of Spotify acquiring both podcasting content business Gimlet Media and distribution service Anchor for a total price-tag of $343m.

Now we know another interesting area that Spotify believes it can explore beyond music: sports.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

Spotify Officially Launches in India

Spotify has officially launched in India – where the number of active internet users is estimated at over 400 million.

The streaming platform went live in the world’s second most populous country of over 1.3bn people yesterday (February 26) at around 9.30pm New York time and around 8am in India today (February 27).

This news might not please everyone of course – the company’s launch arrives after the Bombay High Court in Mumbai denied an emergency injunction request by Warner Music Group which could have prevented it from launching there.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //