“Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose”

Leonardo da Vinci

The NMPA and exercise company Peloton have both fully reached a settlement in a copyright infringement lawsuit that was brought on last year by 14 NMPA members. The two are now entered into “a joint collaboration agreement” that will help each other work to “further optimize” Peloton’s music licensing systems and processes. The copyright lawsuit was worth $370 million for the alleged infringement of over 1,000 musical works.

According to a recent study by the RIAA, streaming grew 13% in 2019, accounting for 79% of the overall pie of music revenue. Revenue from paid streaming subscription services also showed 25% year-over-year growth. Vinyl has been showing steady growth, on the other hand. The physical format was up 19% to $504 million, the biggest annual number for LPs since 1988.

T-Series has now become the first channel to earn more than 100 billion lifetime views. The Indian record label was also the first to emerge from the masses as a challenger for PewDiePie, and in May 2018, it was the first channel to pass 100 million subscribers. The subscriber count currently has climbed to 130 million.

We are pleased to have had one of our own, Jacob Wunderlich (Business Development at Exploration), participate in the AIMP panel this past Wednesday in New York alongside other incredible panelists like Jason Rezvan, Livia Piomelli, Katie Kilgallen, Brandee Younger, and moderator Julia Buchheim (pictured). Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments about this event at hello@exploration.io!

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Compiled by Heidi Seo

Exploration Weekly - February 28, 2020

Music Publishers and Peloton Reach Settlement Over Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

A settlement has been reached between the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and luxury exercise bike maker Peloton in a filing that was brought on last year by 14 NMPA members. In addition, according to the release announcing the settlement, Peloton and the trade association have entered into “a joint collaboration agreement” and will work together to “further optimize” Peloton’s music licensing systems and processes. Last March, Peloton was sued by music publishers for the alleged infringement of over 1,000 musical works. The copyright lawsuit, originally for $150 million, was later raised to $370 million. Peloton then filed a counterclaim in April 2019 against the NMPA, alleging that the trade body “coordinated to collectively negotiate licenses in violation of antitrust laws”. That was dismissed by a judge in New York last month.

RIAA Study Shows 2019 Music Revenue Increased 13%, Subscription Income Up 25%

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released a study, unveiling that streaming grew 13% in 2019, from $9.8 billion to $11.1 billion in retail value, accounting for 79% of the overall pie. Revenue from paid streaming subscription services also showed 25% year-over-year growth. That was up 25%, to $6.8 billion, with subscriptions now accounting for 61% of all the cash brought in from recorded music in the US. The actual number of paid subscriptions rose 29%, with 60.4 million in 2019, versus 46.9 million the year before. That’s a more than five-fold increase in music subscribers from just four years before, when the total number of people ponying up on a monthly basis was a mere 10.8 million. Physical sales now account for just 10% of the marketplace. Vinyl, however, was up 19% to $504 million, the biggest annual number for LPs since 1988.

T-Series’ YouTube Channel Becomes First to Collect 100 Billion Views

Indian record label T-Series is now the first channel to earn more than 100 billion lifetime views. As of press time, the channel has exactly 100,733,684,224 views. It also posts five to seven videos per day, with all of its videos containing already produced music. This is one of the many firsts to the record label’s name. T-Series was also the first channel to emerge from the masses as a challenger for PewDiePie, who’d long been YouTube’s most followed creator. In May 2018, it became the first channel to pass 100 million subscribers, and the first recipient of YouTube’s newly invented Red Diamond Creator Award. The subscriber count has since climbed to 130 million.

France’s Recorded Music Market was Worth $867 Million Last Year, Up 5.4% Year-On-Year

According to results published on February 25 by French trade body SNEP, the recorded music market in France saw growth of 5.4% in 2019, with total revenues of €772 million ($867 million), including physical and digital sales, neighboring rights and sync. Streaming accounted for 59% of total revenue. Furthermore, in 2019, premium subscriptions rose by 18.5%, topping CDs as the main source of revenue. The year saw a marked increase in streaming subscriptions (+1.7 million), said SNEP, with figures exceeding the 10% of the French population threshold for the first time ever. Physical sales continue to play a significant role in France due to the strength and diversity of a network made up of more than 4,000 stores, bolstered by the reaffirmed popularity of vinyl.

K-Pop Has Been Streamed for More Than 134 Billion Minutes on Spotify Since 2014

Spotify recently released K-Pop-related stats this week, reporting that there have been more than 41 billion K-Pop streams on the platform to date. In addition, Spotify users globally have added K-Pop songs to more than 96 million playlists. Between January 2014 and January 2020, K-Pop’s share of listening on the platform increased by more than 1,800%. Since 2014, K-Pop music has been streamed for more than 134 billion minutes on Spotify, according to the company. The Top 10 countries for streaming the music genre at the moment (in the past 90 days) are the US, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, and Singapore. The top-streamed K-Pop artists on Spotify are: BTS, BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE and Red Velvet. In addition, 53% of K-Pop listeners on Spotify are aged 18-24 and 73% of K-Pop listeners are female, according to Spotify.

MooTube: ChilledCow Lo-Fi Hip-Hop Channel Returns to YouTube

YouTube channel ChilledCow was temporarily suspended by YouTube, a suspension that turned out to be a mistake, so has been reversed. The temporary takedown brought to an end its position as one of the longest-running videos in YouTube history. According to The Verge, ChilledCow’s livestream had been running for more than 13,000 hours, and had generated more than 218 million views. The channel itself counts more than 4.4 million subscribers. It has profiles on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. The Spotify playlist of “Beats to relax/study to” has nearly 1.4 million followers. There is also ChilledCow merchandise.

Indie Rock Band Yeasayer is Suing The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar for Black Panther Copyright Infringement

The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar has been hit with a lawsuit by Brooklyn-based indie rock band Yeasayer for copyright infringement over “Pray for Me,” which was created for and featured in 2018’s Black Panther. Yeasayer alleges that key elements of their 2007 song “Sunrise” have been stolen not just by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar, but also by “Pray for Me” producer/writer Martin “Doc” McKinney, writer Adam Feeney, UMG, Interscope Records, Aftermath Records, and Top Dawg Entertainment. And in the lawsuit, Yeasayer believes that the “distinctive choral performance” in “Sunrise” was ripped off in “Pray for Me”. The filing was submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. At the time of writing, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd had not publicly responded to the lawsuit.

Canadian Performance Rights Org SOCAN Collected Record $405 Million in 2019

New figures were released by the Society of Composers, Authors & Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), reporting record-breaking numbers in preliminary year-end numbers for 2019 of an estimated CA $405.5 million (USD $305.38 million) collected, an 8% increase over 2018’s $375 million ($282.41 million). In addition, despite a 38% increase in digital collections, the performing rights organization says its members earned an average of only $67 ($50.47) from domestic digital royalties, an actual increase from 2018, which was a mere $54 ($40.67). SOCAN has more than 160,000 songwriters, composers, music publishers, and visual artists as members.

YouTube is Considering Letting Creators Sell Their Own Ads

YouTube may be allowing creators to sell ad space on their own videos. Tom Leung, YouTube’s director of product management, said in a recent Creator Insider video, “We’re experimenting with a new way for creators to sell advertising to brands with whom they already have a relationship.” The feature, he added, is being tested right now in “a very small pilot”.

Random Ramblings

  • Why musicians have better memory.
  • Billie Eilish's first UK No. 1 single, “ No Time To Die,” makes a record as the first Bond theme by a female artist to top the chart.
  • Justin Bieber makes a triumphant return on the Billboard 200 Chart with his seventh No. 1 album, "Changes".
  • The studio albums that feature the most UK Number 1 singles.
  • Alanis Morissette drops a new track, "Smiling," from her upcoming album, "Such Pretty Forks In The Road".

Who is Exploration?

Exploration is proud to be the company of choice to administer much of the world’s most important media. Utilizing competent staff and advanced technology, our clients are able to better control their data and collect their money.

We’re writing a free book on how the music business works. Learn more here.

The catalog metadata template offers the minimum viable data needed to collect publishing royalties. Download the .csv file here.

To see who is collecting your royalties, request a free copyright audit here!

Please feel free to reach out anytime if you have any questions or ideas!

Hope you have a great weekend!

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