The rise of paid membership models for music
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View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|) http://hotpodnews.com/presents.... The fine print of innovation in the music business. This is issue #88, published on June 17, 2020. It’s Wednesday. 😮 Hope you’re all continuing to stay safe, healthy and motivated as ever to fight for progress and change, regardless of whether your industry blacks out for a day.
Today’s stories focus on paid membership models, livestreaming concerts and a handful of startups that should be on your radar, like Poolside FM and Clubhouse. A few notes before moving on:
👉 Starting in July, I’m going to be opening up my newsletter and Patreon page to guest posts on a limited basis. The aim is to feature four to five guest posts per month, highlighting perspectives on the future of music and tech that are analytical, unconventional, actionable, evergreen and NOT promotional. Pay starts at $500 for a 1,000-word piece, and priority will be given to underrepresented voices in the music business, particularly women and people of color. You can learn more about pitch guidelines and submit your ideas via this Google form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBAeAi4nBjBSHscygIld-2jiuBLcXmgHAcJskWXp5B6ZXzGA/viewform) .
👉 I’m currently in the middle of a 100-day book-writing challenge, in which I’m committing to writing at least 800 words a day towards my book for 100 days straight. (ICYMI, I’m writing a book about the intersection of independent artists and tech entrepreneurship for Bloomsbury.) I started the challenge on June 12 and have already missed two days so far, but am also well past the daily average word-count goal. Go figure. Each entry in the challenge focuses on a different concept in music/tech entrepreneurship, and is accessible to $15+/month members on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/m/waterandmusic) .
👉 Last but not least, since the last newsletter issue, I’ve done interviews about music and tech with the likes of VICE (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgxx48/is-there-ethical-music-streaming-under-capitalism-spotify-v27n2?series=96vbx6) (the ethics of streaming), Le Journal de Montréal (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/05/14/durant-la-pandemie-les-concerts-continuent-dans-des-jeux-videos) (about in-game concerts), Switched on Pop (https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/why-lo-fi-is-the-perfect-background-music) (about the economics of lo-fi hip-hop) and Musonomics ( https://open.spotify.com/episode/6HZwgjP4YtpZLi26xScs99) (about live music in a pandemic). Hope you find them interesting and helpful. The rise of paid membership models for music (https://www.patreon.com/posts/38165728) Paid membership models have emerged over the past few months as one of the fastest-growing tenets of the new digital-music economy.
Between mid-March and late May 2020, the collective value that fans were paying musicians on Patreon increased by over 60%, while the total number of musician accounts on the platform increased by 200%.
A handful of new music-focused options have also launched recently, including Currents FM (http://currents.fm/) and Ampled (http://ampled.com/) , both of which intentionally position themselves as more artist-friendly alternatives to Patreon and other incumbent platforms.
One major pivot (https://www.patreon.com/posts/36247421) the music industry has made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a shift in focus from lean-back, aggregate streaming channels (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music) to direct-to-fan channels (e.g. Bandcamp, Shopify, Patreon) where the revenue impact is more immediate and transparent. Monthly membership revenue in particular is easier to project than streaming royalties, and opens up a direct, ad-free line of communication to one’s most loyal fans and supporters. It’s one of many potential blueprints for building a more sustainable career as an artist. [Read more. (https://www.patreon.com/posts/38165728) ] How artists evaluate livestreaming opportunities (https://www.patreon.com/posts/37598881) The modern era of music livestreaming has gone through multiple waves.
In the first wave — from around mid-March to late April — artists and event organizers flocked in droves to copy-and-paste the sets they would have played in person at cancelled festivals and tours into a digital format. Desperate to fill an emotional void, artists seemed to take every opportunity they had to go live online and expand their social followings, often for free.
Now, we’re well into the second wave, which is definitely more discerning. Artists are starting to speak out more about not getting paid (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/09/we-shouldnt-just-be-used-for-charity-musicians-are-still-getting-work-but-theyre-not-being-paid#maincontent) for their livestreaming appearances. Analysts are critiquing (https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/the-future-of-live/) the staleness and lack of innovation in music livestreaming beyond traditional, linear performances that aren’t taking advantage of the medium’s various interactive features.
As the initial hype settles down, I’ve built a three-part framework for how artists are evaluating future livestreaming opportunities, based on several of my conversations with artist managers. How do artists know which opportunities are best for their own art and career goals? And, more importantly, when do they say no? [Read more. (https://www.patreon.com/posts/37598881) ] The one major design element missing from most virtual music events: Spatial thinking (https://www.patreon.com/posts/38063968) As humans, we are inherently spatial beings. Multiple interdisciplinary studies (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4749931/) have found that our sense of self is innately tied to our environment.
A music festival is one of the most powerful examples of a highly spatial man-made experience. It starts with the journey to the festival itself: In 2015, Nielsen found (https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2015/for-music-fans-the-summer-is-all-a-stage/) that fans traveled an average of 903 miles to attend a single festival. Then once you’re on the festival grounds, movement is the main source of both emotional and financial value. You’re rarely stuck to being part of just one audience watching just one artist in a festival setting. Instead, you walk from one stage to the next throughout the day; perhaps you stop by the outdoor bar or food court for a drink or snack break between sets, while taking in the organized chaos of the similarly free-flowing audiences around you. It’s spontaneous, exploratory travel.
“Attending” a festival livestream seems so much easier and more frictionless in comparison. It’s a matter merely of opening up a new tab on your web browser or an app on your phone. And fans and artists all over the world can join in, as opposed to just those who can afford the time, money and energy to travel to a specific location for a period of time.
But while shrink-wrapping a 3D festival into a 2D plane might remove friction, it also removes intuition and delight by removing a sense of space. Closing the spatiality gap in online experiences will be critical for anyone who wants to produce online events that are actually exciting — and worth paying for. [Read more. (https://www.patreon.com/posts/38063968) ] Other stories Poolside FM’s four-step blueprint for music curation (https://www.patreon.com/posts/37753325) How the niche, nostalgic virtual getaway demonstrates the importance of building worlds, not just playlists, and of fostering community, not just streams.
Top music-industry tastemakers are hanging out in Clubhouse. Why? (https://www.patreon.com/posts/37645574) Clubhouse, the new social-audio app everyone loves to hate, has regular customers including artist-management veterans Scooter Braun, Troy Carter, Guy Oseary and Jake Udell, as well as celebrities such as Jared Leto, Ashton Kutcher and Tiffany Haddish. Especially in a pandemic, social listening and radio-like experiences are actually more relevant than ever.
Tool Tracker: Music workflow and remote-collaboration apps (https://www.patreon.com/posts/38304297) A members-only database of apps that artists and their teams are using for remote collaboration and workflow management across recording, file storage and sharing, feedback, commenting and metadata. Good reads from the web 📖
The future of live music: * The Ethics of Concert Presentation During a Pandemic (https://www.matthewwhiteside.co.uk/the-ethics-of-concert-presentation-during-a-pandemic/2020/) (Matthew Whiteside) * Exploring subscription models in live music (https://medium.com/swlh/exploring-subscription-models-in-live-music-172ae91ca298) (Jeremie Joubert)
Grappling with systemic racism in music, media and showbiz: * Dear White Music Executives (https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9400468/dear-white-music-label-executives-anonymous-letter-racism-industry) (Anonymous, Billboard) * Navigating Hollywood’s Creative Police State (https://www.vulture.com/article/navigating-hollywoods-creative-police-state-hashtag.html) (Mamoudou N’Diaye, Vulture) * Class Photos: Taking a peek at diversity Hollywood style circa 2020 (https://theankler.com/p/class-photos) (Richard Rushfield, The Ankler) * Stewed Awakening (https://www.eater.com/2020/5/20/21262304/global-pantry-alison-roman-bon-appetit) (Navneet Alang, Eater) * Chinese Rappers Are Chasing Clout Through Hip Hop Culture, So Why Won’t They Do More for Black Lives Matter? (https://variety.com/2020/music/news/88rising-rich-brian-bohan-phoenix-black-lives-matter-1234629956/) (Josh Feola, Variety)
Music and media business models: * How Artists Are Building Their Fan Funnel Using Instagram (https://astan.substack.com/p/how-artists-are-building-their-fan) (Denisha Kuhlor) * The World’s Livestream Queen Can Sell Anything (https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-viya-china-livestream-shopping/) (Bloomberg) * The New Model Media Star Is Famous Only to You (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/business/media/new-model-celebrity.html) (Ben Smith, New York Times) * Why Ownership Matters More in Hip-Hop (https://trapital.co/2020/06/11/why-ownership-matters-more-in-hip-hop/) (Dan Runcie, Trapital) * This Is How Much More Money Artists Earn From Bandcamp Compared to Streaming Services (https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-much-more-money-artists-earn-from-bandcamp-compared-to-spotify-apple-music-youtube/) (Marc Hogan, Pitchfork) * Why micropayments will never be a thing in journalism (https://www.cjr.org/opinion/micropayments-subscription-pay-by-article.php) (James Ball, Columbia Journalism Review)
What I’m listening to 🎧 * Photay: Waking Hours (https://photay.bandcamp.com/album/waking-hours) (until June 26, 100% of revenues from digital Bandcamp sales for this record are going to Equality for Flatbush (http://www.equalityforflatbush.org/) ) * Esperanza Spalding and Fred Hersch: Live at The Village Vanguard - Rough Mix EP (https://esperanzaspaldingfredhersch.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-village-vanguard-rough-mix-ep-a-benefit-recording-for-the-jazz-foundation-of-america) (benefit recording for the Jazz Foundation of America (https://jazzfoundation.org/) ) * Black Jazz Consortium: Evolution Of Light (https://blackjazzconsortium.bandcamp.com/album/evolution-of-light-4) * The whole discography from Rhythm Section International (https://wearerhythmsection.bandcamp.com/) * The ZORA Music Canon: The 100 most iconic albums by African American women (https://zora.medium.com/the-zora-music-canon-5a29296c6112) * Journalist Wesley Lowery’s latest interview on the Longform podcast (https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-395-wesley-lowery) * Nick Quah’s new podcast (!!), Servant of Pod (https://laist.com/podcasts/servant-of-pod.php)
If you’d like to support even more thoughts and conversations on music and tech, I encourage you to become a paying member of the Water & Music ecosystem on Patreon (http://patreon.com/cheriehu?utm_campaign=Water%20%26%20Music&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter) .
For as little as $3/month or as much as $200+/month, you can access a wide range of perks including: * A closed, members-only Discord server, consisting of regular conversations on the most important music and tech news * Exclusive essays and article previews * Updates on my book research * Monthly video hangouts with me
…and much more! Thanks so much for reading! ❤️
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