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On March 17, the Recording Academy and its nonprofit charitable arm, MusiCares, launched a coronavirus relief fund for music professionals impacted by the virus, starting with an initial $1 million donation from each. MusiCares is currently in the process of securing donations from major streaming services, record labels, and other music companies, plus a number of high-profile artists.

YouTube made a few changes to its mobile app interface, removing the “Trending” tab in exchange for a new hub dubbed “Explore”. The Trending ranking of YouTube’s top videos (on a regional basis) will still live within Explore. However, users will also be able to access destination pages like Gaming, Music, Fashion & Beauty, and Learning.

According to MusicWatch’s 2019 Annual Music Study, a reported 80 million consumers nationwide paid for a music subscription in 2019, up 12 million from the previous year. The number of music buyers in the US hit 116 million in 2019 across paid subscriptions, CDs, paid downloads and new vinyl, the largest number since 2007. Streaming now accounts for 39% of all music listening in the US.

In this newsletter:

Recording Academy and MusiCares Commit $2 Million for Coronavirus Relief Fund
YouTube Officially Removing “Trending” Tab from Mobile App in Favor of “Explore”
116 Million US Consumers Bought Music Last Year, Highest Number Since 2007: Study
Tencent Music Generated Over $1 Billion from Online Music Last Year, Ending 2019 with 39.9 Million Paying Users
“Amazon Music for Artists” Mobile App Launches
Apple Inks New Deals with Universal, Sony, and Warner for Music Streaming
British Label Sales Grew to £1.1 Billion in 2019, Says BPI
Judge Overturns “Dark Horse” Song-Theft Judgment

Now, the details...
Compiled by Heidi Seo

Exploration Weekly - March 20, 2020

Recording Academy and MusiCares Commit $2 Million for Coronavirus Relief Fund

The Recording Academy and its charitable arm, MusiCares, have launched a coronavirus relief fund for music professionals adversely impacted by the virus, starting with an initial $1 million donation from each. MusiCares is also in the process of securing donations from several major streaming services, record labels, and other music companies, plus a number of high-profile artists, according to a representative. The nonprofit organization helps individuals in all corners of the music industry cover a range of financial, medical, and personal emergencies. Recording Academy interim president/CEO and chair of the board Harvey Mason Jr. tells Billboard, “Some people need help with their rent, some need to buy groceries, some need medical care. The infrastructure around MusiCares is set up to deal with specifically that.”

YouTube Officially Removing “Trending” Tab from Mobile App in Favor of “Explore”

YouTube’s mobile app interface underwent an overhaul as it removed its “Trending” tab - a self-curated list of YouTube’s top videos (on a regional basis) at any given moment - in exchange for a new hub dubbed “Explore”. In a support forum post, the company wrote, “With Explore, you not only have access to Trending videos, but also to destination pages for some popular content categories like Gaming, Music, Fashion & Beauty, Learning.” There will also be two additional categories at the top of Explore - for News and Movie and Shows - while Trending will receive its own shortcut button as well. This means that the Trending ranking will still live within Explore.

116 Million US Consumers Bought Music Last Year, Highest Number Since 2007: Study

Based on results from MusicWatch’s 2019 Annual Music Study released this week, a reported 80 million consumers paid for a music subscription in 2019, up 12 million from the previous year. The findings were based on a survey of 5,000 respondents nationwide aged 13 and older and complemented by MusicWatch’s audiocensus study of 3,000 people who provided detailed music listening behaviors. The study, furthermore, found that the number of music buyers in the US hit 116 million in 2019 across paid subscriptions, CDs, paid downloads and new vinyl, the largest number since 2007. Streaming now accounts for 39% of all music listening in the US, with the streaming population rising to 204 million in 2019. That’s the first time that number has surpassed 200 million. YouTube’s premium and ad-supported services continued to enjoy the biggest share of music listening in Q4 2019, though Spotify, Apple, and Amazon all grew their shares.

Tencent Music Generated Over $1 Billion from Online Music Last Year, Ending 2019 with 39.9 Million Paying Users

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) ended 2019 with 39.9 million paying music users worldwide. In a full-year update, its online music subscribers paid $160 million to the firm during the course of Q4 2019. Additionally, according to MusicBusinessWorldwide’s calculations, TME generated $514 million from paying online music subscribers, and $1.03 billion in terms of total online music revenues - including streaming plus downloads - across the course of calendar 2019. TME’s revenues from online music subscribers ($160 million) in Q4 2019 was up 60.1% year-on-year.

“Amazon Music for Artists” Mobile App Launches

Amazon Music has launched “Amazon Music for Artists,” a mobile app for artists and their teams to better understand their business on the platform. It will also be available on both iOS and Android, offering streaming performance and insights into an artists’ audience on the platform, which is estimated to be around 55 million people. A companion website has also launched (artists.amazonmusic.com) where artists and their teams can learn more about the app, as well as opportunity areas, best practices, additional resources, and more. The data, which reaches back to 2018, updates every couple of hours. The app gives artists and their teams a global view on streams for both tracks and albums; how their songs are performing with Alexa on Amazon Music; details on performance across curated playlists and stations; and insights into where their fans are streaming.

Apple Inks New Deals with Universal, Sony, and Warner for Music Streaming

According to the Financial Times, Apple Music has inked new multi-year licensing agreements with Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music. Sources suggest that the deals were struck in the past few months, and that they do not license Apple to bundle its Apple Music service with Apple TV. The tech company wants to pull together a “super bundle” including TV, music, and more - but it will need new deals with the majors agreed in order to do so. MusicBusinessWorldwide reports that Spotify, on the other hand, has new and/or existing multi-year deals in place with Sony Music and indie agency Merlin - but that its long-running deals with Universal and Warner have now expired. Apple Music sits within Apple’s Services division, which generated $46.3 billion in revenues last year.

British Label Sales Grew to £1.1 Billion in 2019, Says BPI

According to new figures released by British label trade body BPI, the equivalent of 154 million albums were streamed, purchased on physical formats or downloaded in the UK in 2019. Additionally, UK labels reported just under £1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) in sales revenue across streaming, CD, vinyl, and download sales, public performance rights and sync in 2019, up 7.3% on the previous year, and the highest level of annual trade income since 2006. Streaming sales was the main driver of growth, which climbed by 22% to £629 million ($755 million). 90% of that streaming total came from subscription revenues, while ad-supported tiers accounted for around 4%. Video streaming ads from the likes of YouTube contributed £35 million ($42 million), equivalent to a 5.6% share.

Judge Overturns “Dark Horse” Song-Theft Judgment

The “Dark Horse” jury decision in last year’s song-theft case was overturned by a Californian court this week, ruling that as a “matter of law” Katy Perry did not infringe the copyright in earlier track “Joyful Noise” on her 2013 hit. “Joyful Noise” Christian artist and rapper Marcus Grey, who performs as Flame, first sued Perry and her songwriting team in 2014, the year after the release of “Dark Horse.” When the case got to court last year Perry’s team argued that their clients had never heard “Joyful Noise” until Gray sued; that the elements the two songs had in common were too short and common to be protected by copyright; and that the way those elements had been employed in “Dark Horse” and “Joyful Noise” could be found in other songs too. However, the jury chose Gray’s team, concluding that “Dark Horse” did infringe “Joyful Noise”. They then subsequently awarded Gray and his business partners nearly $2.8 million in damages. Perry’s team appealed that ruling last October requesting that the jury decision be overturned as a matter of law, or that the damages bill be cut, or that a retrial be ordered.

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