The blog, on which the market researchers from “Midia” repeatedly present their analyzes of the music industry, is often surprisingly worth reading. This time the researchers present their “grand theory” about the technology-driven drifting of the music business into two parts (bifurcation) in a report. A valuable contribution that once again makes clear the dimension and relevance of the social web, which is difficult to grasp because it is always very amorphous.
The starting point of the theory is: Streaming is no longer a revolution, but rather the status quo – establishment, so to speak.
The theory of division now says:
The music business is bifurcating – splitting into two – with streaming emerging as the place for mainstream music and lean back consumption, and social as the spiritual home of fandom and the creator economy. We identify these two segments as:
1. LISTEN (user-led): streaming services, monetising consumption at scale
2. PLAY (creator-led): highly social destinations where fans lean in to create, connect and express identity
What sounds obvious has not yet been properly understood in the scene:
social is still largely seen as a driver for streaming. Many artists who try to get their fans to participate on social do so primarily in the hope of driving streams rather than for the inherent value of fans participating in their creativity. However, many next-generation creators are realising they will simply never reach the scale needed to earn meaningful income from streaming.They are therefore shifting focus to building fan relationships on social media and monetising them elsewhere
The fans themselves are now creators themselves and use their favorite music in their Tiktok videos, among other things. This creates its own system beyond the corporate-dominated streaming world. In any case, the text is an exciting aid to sorting the complexity of the online world between the roles of creators, fans, streaming platforms and social apps in your head.
And now best of all: music.