It’s widely accepted that in the music industry, there are “superstar” artists and “starving artists”—those who make billions of dollars and sell out shows—and those who have less traffic but are lucky enough to hit the top spot. .
But the reality is that the number of “middle class” artists is also growing – their streams are in the millions and they occupy the space between obscurity and superstardom.
According to market monitoring brightNewest Mid-Year Music Report, – Data collected from approximately 500 sources in 48 markets around the world, including major streaming platforms – The number of artists in this middle tier is growing significantly.
In the first half of 2024, there will be 29,253 Artists who clock in between mega and Ten million On-demand audio streaming, added 5.1% Compared to the same period a year ago.
You can download the report here.
among those who clock in Ten million–50000000 On-demand audio streaming, number of artists grows 5.4%arrive 5,222 artist.
Luminate’s report provides examples of these mid-level artists: 98 degrees and sophia carson In popular music genres; Jack Harris and seven mary three In the rock genre; Skylar Bratt and Lil Eads R&B/hip-hop music; hernantrejo and Julio Iglesias Latin music; and Will Dempsey and Hunter Hayes domestic.
With the category growing so significantly, it’s no surprise that some major music companies are looking for ways to increase their exposure to middle-class artists. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is Warner Music Groupits CEO, Robert Kinkelsaid he is looking to expand WMG’s reach among this tier of artists.
Earlier this year, MBW Presumably, the publishers with the most presence among this middle tier of musicians may soon become acquisition targets. In fact, WMG is interested in companies based in France believe (Owners of independent dealers Tuning) may be related to this interest among mid-level artists.
It certainly seems like that, indie publishers are where you find this middle layer. Luminate’s data shows these artists are more likely to remain independent than those with higher status.
Among them mega–Ten million stream scope, 62.1% There are independent releases, while in Ten million–50000000 stream scope, 37.4% There are independent releases.
In contrast, only 9.9% independent releases with artists 500 million+ To be broadcast in the first half of 2024.
Out of 46 artists, timed over 1 billion According to Luminate, 43 U.S. streamers received major distribution in the first half of 2024.
Interestingly, across the spectrum, the proportion of artists with independent distribution rights is increasing. One year ago, the share 500 million+ Streaming artists with independent distribution rights are just 7.1%.
Paid video streaming increased compared to ad-supported video streaming
The Luminate report also found that the number of streams coming from paid subscriptions is increasing relative to the number of streams coming from ad-supported accounts.
The report did not specify whether this was due to more listeners signing up for paid subscriptions or whether those with paid subscriptions listened to more music (or both).
But in Luminate’s statistics, this is reflected in the fact that the number of streams required for album sales has been declining.
Luminate calculates the “album equivalent” ratio as 1,250 people Paid subscription for audio/video streaming equivalent to album sales, or 3,750 Ad-supported audio/video streaming is equivalent to album sales.
As more streaming comes from paid subscriptions, the mix (paid and ad-supported) ratio has dropped to 1,390 streams. Just in the first half of 2021, the mix ratio was close to 1,440 stream.
Luminate points out that this ratio varies by type.
“Compared to other core genres, country music has the lowest average number of mixed streams per album, while Latin music has the highest average number of streams,” Luminate said.
This means that country music gets the highest share of streams from paid subscriptions, while Latin music gets the lowest share of streams from paid subscriptions.
It’s worth noting that we can’t assume this means country music listeners are most likely to pay for music subscriptions, while Latin music listeners are the most likely to pay. That’s because Luminate is counting streamno audience. It could be as simple as country music listeners who pay a subscription listen to more music than Latin music listeners who pay a subscription.
K-pop fans love new music
Luminate’s report also gives us an idea of which genre will get fans most excited about a new album, and the answer is – perhaps unsurprisingly – K-pop.
more than 70% of K-pop viewers reported streaming the music within a week of its release. On the other hand is country music, which has less than 50% of listeners reported streaming music within a week of release.
The report also provides some interesting data on music streaming services worried about churn. When it comes to retaining subscribers, Luminate’s data suggests streamers should prioritize live events 50% Listeners considering switching music streaming services are more common than music listeners overall.
Also useful for retaining subscribers: Content other than music (priority) 49% more frequently) and exclusive artist content (priority 48% More frequent).global music business
