The Big Three: Self Isolation, The Streaming Nation & Entertainment Boom
In lockdown many independent recording artists found new opportunities and the ability to innovate and create.
Today’s blog is a deep dive into how media consumption patterns have changed. While these behavior shifts are a snapshot of a unique moment in time, there are nonetheless some that will persist post-pandemic.
Leveraging new, not-seen-before apps and technology, artists now want to build online and streaming success ‘on their own terms’.
Lockdown was seen as a unique creative window by artists.
The state of the independent artist sector has navigated through challenges. We present you our unique views and solutions on how to overcome, grow and monetize your fanbase.
Self Isolation & Monetizing Fandom
The music biz is learning from the gaming sector but needs more lessons on monetizing fans.
In the last few months, the music world picked up tips from the gaming industry on its superior ways of monetizing fandoms.
Roblox’s first digital event – by Lil Nas X in NOV last year, gathered 33M impressions.
Travis Scott gathered 27.7 million participants @ the Fortnite performance last year.
In our last week’s article, we investigate how social media together with the gaming sector can make a recording artist win. Genuine content reigns supreme.
Important Facts
“Warner Music Group (WMG) has already been investing an eight-figure sum in Roblox, the popular gaming platform played by two-thirds of US kids aged 9—12, and 100 million global active users who spend one billion hours a month. It is valued at $38 billion.
Sony Group Corporation, parent of Sony Music Group, this week invested another $257.8 million into Epic Games, the US firm behind Fortnite which has an equity valuation of $37 billion. It first pumped $322. 3 million into Epic in July 2020.
China’s Tencent invested $425.5 million in Epic in 2012, five years before Fortnite arrived, which means its 40% stake is now worth $14.8 billion.
“Music will be an essential component of the future gaming landscape,” says Alex Kamins, senior vice president of new business and ventures at WMG.”
The rise of social media, earlier called “web 2.0” and the emancipation of the digital native allowed new innovation, new tools and apps to emerge. The brisk growth of Clubhouse, Discord, gaming/ audio and social media apps like Tiktok, Snap and many more – since the coronavirus-prompted lockdowns and curfews, along with a migration to virtual-1st life, are all early signs of demand for – and advocacy of – social media platforms that lend themselves to lean-in entertainment behaviours. The result is a decoupling of social from the defining metric of engagement for its own sake. Overtime, Clubhouse may fade. TikTok may fade. But social media is here to stay and recording artists leveraging these platforms are reaching fandom in no time.
How can a recording artist master the art of funnel-building on TikTok?
Your funnel-building process is your sequential marketing campaign which is the process of walking a potential customer down your purchase journey before they ever reach your sale page. Learn how to: 𝙏𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙏𝙞𝙠𝙏𝙤𝙠 𝘽𝙞𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚. ✅
“As you sow, so shall you reap.” – Galatians VI
Saying hello on social media doesn’t have an ROI. It’s all about building relationships.
The Streaming Nation, Entertainment Boom & The Attention Economy
The attention economy is saturated, leaving not much room for any insurgent to scale – but it is also at risk of fragmenting, allowing many smaller, standalone propositions to now each successfully hold their niches.
Streaming won’t make up for the revenue lost by the lack of live gigs. But then again streaming services keep growing in scale and attract waves of inward investment into the industry. Alongside labels, streaming services have become the joint central force of the music business, around which all else orbited. Streaming may be the change factor that enabled all of these digital shift for recording artists – but streaming def just the start of a new chapter, not the end point. Streaming became bridge back into the live world.
Streaming revenues almost reached $15 billion if not more to this date, up 20% from 2019.
Independent labels and artists strongly over-performed the market, collectively growing almost at 30% and increasing their combined streaming market share to more than 30%.
Live Nation hosted 40K + events in 2019. How will it get back to that number? — and what else is in store for all concert giants in the post-pandemic future?
The ‘new normal’ starts… when?
The new normal is already here. Everyone is asking: What comes next – and, just as importantly, when?
While many emerging market countries do not have the same access to the vaccines, many states in America are back to normal.
Is this the beginning of the beginning of the end?
We are at the beginning of the end of this artificially/ digitally constrained market dynamic, with virtual entertainment booming – but far from the end itself.
Consumer sentiments and behaviors are changing very quickly. Make sure to keep yourself up to date with everything happening and.
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