Providing an essential overview of key topics, developments and debates across the music business, including stats, strategies and current trends, the CMU Masterclass sessions are a great way to keep up to date or refresh your knowledge of the music business.
Click through to see the full schedule and book your place at our early bird rate of £59 inc VAT per session, or £299 inc VAT for all eight masterclass sessions.
The CMU Masterclass sessions are delivered live on Zoom Webinars, and are then available on-demand through CMU's learning platform.
Our Music Streaming In 2024 provides an overview of key trends and developments in music streaming over the last year, including how and why the streaming business is evolving, and which digital services are generating the most revenue - and most growth in consumption - in music markets around the world.
Whether you work with recordings, songs or music creators - and whether you're involved in publishing, labels, distribution, management or anything to do with music rights - Music Streaming In 2024 will ensure that you have a full understanding of the music streaming ecosystem in 2024.
What you will learn in this session:
Key music streaming services - an overview
Streaming now accounts for more than two thirds of the record industry's global revenue, with premium streaming contributing the most revenue overall.
The premium streaming market is dominated by a small number of global players. At a global level, Spotify is the market leader followed by Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music. However in some markets there are significant regional services which are as big - or even bigger - than the global platforms
👉 We'll take a look at key information about the current global streaming ecosystem including the most important global and regional services.
👉 We'll break out the latest stats and figures for the streaming market to show you which digital services are generating the most revenue and growth around the world.
👉 We'll look at how things differ around the world in terms of revenues, services and growth.
👉 We'll discuss how and why the streaming business model is evolving - including recent changes from Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music - and we'll explain why some people are proposing even more radical reforms.
In an increasingly global market, it's important to understand the regional differences, and what impact they have on local music industries, and on artists and labels pursuing opportunities in other countries.
We'll also explain why it is so hard for new and especially niche streaming services to launch and compete, resulting in a market dominated by a few big platforms. Although some new services have gained traction - or are starting to - and we'll consider why that is.
How and why the streaming model is changing
There have been calls to evolve and reform the streaming business model for years, especially from artists and songwriters, and the independent sector. Though it's only now that changes are being made, because in 2023 the majors also started to demand reform.
To understand the changes, you need to understand the fundamentals of the model - in which services share their revenues with the industry based on consumption share. We'll explain what that means, and how streaming services have traditionally allocated revenue to tracks, and then shared those allocations with labels and publishers, which in turn pay artists and songwriters.
Then we'll run through the changes being instigated by Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music - and what motivated them. Those changes are not without controversy. We'll also explain the criticisms that have been made, by artists, songwriters and the indies.
The debate about the model - and how it is evolving - will continue throughout 2024, and with the insight provided in this masterclass you'll be able to fully follow the discussion and form your own opinion on the merits, or the not, of the changes being made.
The ongoing Economics Of Streaming debate
Lots of different issues have been raised with the way streaming works - and the changes now being made to the model only deal with some of them.
In the UK, Parliament's culture select committee undertook an inquiry in 2021 into the economics of music streaming and raised concerns about artist and songwriter remuneration, as well as the impact of data and transparency issues.
The UK government then instigated a number of initiatives involving stakeholders from across the industry seeking solutions to the problems raised by the inquiry.
In this masterclass - as a taster to our whole series of sessions on the economics of streaming - we will recap the story so far and bring you bang up to date with all the latest developments.
You'll learn about the industry codes that have been agreed on data and transparency - and what role you can play in implementing them. And you'll have a good understanding of all the arguments presented by all sides around remuneration.
UGC platforms and revenues
Of course, the digital music business is not just about subscription streaming services. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are not only important marketing channels for the music industry, they are increasingly important revenue generators as well.
The deals done between the music industry and these platforms are even more complicated. And they are also evolving, with many in the industry feeling that music has been undervalued by these services to date.
In this section we will explain how these deals work, how they are evolving and why there are extra complexities. We will also discuss what is coming next - and outline other ways artists and their business partners could and should be generating revenue on these platforms.
Click through to see our other CMU Masterclass sessions
CMU
Other sessions include:
- The Music Business in 2024 - now available on-demand
- Music Copyright In 2024 - coming up on Tue 13 Feb
- Music + AI In 2024 - coming up on Tue 20 Feb
- Economics Of Streaming: Debates & Controversies - Tue 27 Feb
- Economics Of Streaming: Money & Allocation - Tue 5 Mar
- Economics Of Streaming: Data & Transparency - Tue 12 Mar
- Economics Of Streaming: Rights & Innovation - Tue 19 Mar