“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

TikTok makers ByteDance officially launched their Resso streaming service in India this week. The app is known to integrate social media functions as well as customizable lyric posters to encourage a sense of community. Licenses have also been secured with most major rights-holders, except for Universal Music Group. The app counts over 500,000 downloads on the Play Store and 80,000 on the App Store.

According to YouTube’s Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, a total of 5.9 million videos were removed for violating company policies. Users appealed 109,000 of those decisions, and as a result, 24,000 videos were reinstated, calculating a reinstatement rate of 22%. The report breaks down YouTube’s video removals, the reasoning behind the decisions, and how the offenses were detected.

The “value of the music copyright business” was recently calculated together by former Spotify exec Will Page in his latest annual numbers, cross-referencing the IFPI and Cisac stats with Music & Copyright’s estimates of publisher revenues. The total global value of the music copyright business is at $30.1 billion in 2018, a 9.3% increase year-on-year from 2017.

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Compiled by Heidi Seo

Exploration Weekly - March 6, 2020

TikTok Owner ByteDance Launches Resso App in India, Taking on Spotify

After three months in beta-testing phase, TikTok makers ByteDance officially launched their Resso streaming service app in India this week, joining other streaming services in the country that includes Gaana, JioSaavn, Apple Music and Spotify. Resso includes other features: Marrying social media functions with music, sharing customizable lyric posters, creating animated visuals for song backgrounds and interacting with other users to encourage a sense of community. The company has secure licenses with most major rights-holders; however, Universal Music Group is missing. Resso was first tested in India and Indonesia as early as May, with a bigger catalog being added by December. The app counts over 500,000 downloads on the Play Store and 80,000 on the App Store.

After 109,000 Video Removal Appeals Last Quarter, YouTube Says It Reinstated 22%

Each quarter, YouTube releases a Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, a glimpse into the video removals that the platform undertook, as well as its reasoning behind the decisions, how the offenses were detected, and more. YouTube shared some user data regarding stats on how often it overturns decisions regarding appeals on removed videos, such as in Q4 of last year, the company removed a total of 5.9 million videos for violating its policies. Users appealed 109,000 of those decisions, and as a result, 24,000 videos were reinstated, according to the report, which calculates to a reinstatement rate of 22%. YouTube also notes that while appeals are easily accessible, they are relatively rare. Of the 5.9 million videos removed last quarter, the company pointed out, only 1.9% were appealed.

Report: Global Value of Music Copyright Reached $30.1 Billion in 2018

Former Spotify exec Will Page published his latest annual calculations bringing recordings and publishing together in a “value of the music copyright business” metric. Key numbers include the total global value of the music copyright business at $30.1 billion in 2018. This showed a 9.3% increase year-on-year from 2017. Page’s figure includes recorded music and publishing - including performance rights, mechanical royalties, and sync licensing, by cross-referencing the IFPI and Cisac stats with Music & Copyright’s estimates of publisher revenues, while adjusting to avoid double-counting revenues collected by labels then paid out to publishers.

Lizzo Collaborators Hit Back in “Truth Hurts” Copyright Dispute

The three songwriters behind Lizzo’s hit “Truth Hurts” hit back at her copyright lawsuit against them. In a new legal filing last week, they said that the dispute centered on Lizzo’s “bad faith” and “unprincipled attempt to deny songwriting and producer credits and royalties” to her former collaborators. The lawsuit was filed last October after some online chatter about the copyright status of “Truth Hurts.” Producers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen had spoken out that they were uncredited co-writers on that records, because a key lyric in it originated in an earlier unreleased song called “Healthy,” which was written in their studio. The shared lyric was “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch”. Lizzo claimed that there had been plenty of conversations about the dispute, with the Raisens agreeing that they did not have a claim. The Raisens and an additional songwriter, Justin Rothman, want Lizzo’s lawsuit dismissed, and for the court to confirm that they are co-writers on and co-owners of “Truth Hurts”. Lizzo’s team is yet to respond.

Germans Continue Digital Migration as Streaming Jumps 27%, Generating Nearly $1 Billion in Revenue

According to new figures released late last week by the Federal Music Industry Association (BVMI), streaming was the main driver of revenue across Germany’s music landscape in 2019, accounting for 55% of total revenue in the country. The trade organization also announced in Berlin that revenue from the sale of CDs, vinyl, DVDs and downloads, as well as from streaming services, totaled €1.623 billion ($1.81 billion) in 2019, up 8.2% from 2018, when the world's fourth biggest music market raked in €1.582 billion ($1.78 billion). Audio streaming, in particular, saw a 27% increase in sales to €895 million ($995.6 million).

Streaming is Getting Bigger in Japan, With the Likes of Spotify Generating Over $380 Million in Market Last Year

According to new stats published by local trade body RIAJ and crunched by Music Business Worldwide, subscription and ad-funded audio streaming services like Spotify generated $385 million (41.97 billion Yen) for the industry in Japan in 2019, representing growth of 33.8% on the 31.37 billion Yen generated by the format in 2018. In fact, audio streaming revenues in Japan nearly doubled just in the two years between 2017 and 2019. With both video and audio included, Japan’s monetary streaming haul in 2019 rose to $426 million (46.53 billion Yen). CD, however, continued to dominate, with 68.9% of all audio-related music revenues in 2019, though this was down slightly on the 71.9% the format claimed in 2018.

The Global Recorded Music Business Generated Over $50 Million a Day Last Year - And More Than $2 Million of It Went to DIY Artists

Analysis platform Midia Research revealed new numbers this week, estimating that the worldwide recorded music industry generated $21.5 billion across all formats last year, growing 11.4%. $11.9 billion of this $21.5 billion figure (some 56%) came from streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube. Midia has also revised its preliminary estimate for the “artist-direct” sector. The 2019 annual report unveiled that these DIY artists generated $873 million across the 12 months of last year, nabbing 4.1% market share of the global industry. In fact, independent entities (including indie labels, “label services” artists, and DIY artists) took up 32.5% of the market. The entire industry grew faster in 2019 than it did in the prior year. However, streaming growth is slowing down, according to Midia.

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