Exploration Weekly - YT Select to Replace Google Preferred / Spotify Unveils Artist and Label Portal / Goldman Sachs Predicts 25% Drop in 2020 Revenue

Aaron Davis -


“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

Oscar Wilde

YouTube is planning to replace its Google Preferred ad program with YouTube Select, according to its official blog post. The new program will blend prime packs with Google Preferred by offering advertisers curated “content lineups” full of YouTube-approved, brand-safe creators and videos.

Spotify announced the merger of its two respective data portals for artists and labels into one platform known as Spotify for Artists. Labels and distributors had previously been using Spotify Analytics, but now they will be shifting over to the artist platform over the next few months.

Goldman Sachs announced that “global music revenue will drop by 25% in 2020 on our estimates, largely due to the widespread disruption to live events.” However, despite this decrease, the company expects “a strong rebound in 2021” and further growth in the years after that. Live music revenue is expected to drop 75%, specifically, in 2020, whereas streaming revenue will grow by 18%, helping recorded music revenues to grow by 3%. Music publishing revenues are also expected to grow by 3.5% this year.

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Compiled by Heidi Seo

Exploration Weekly - May 22, 2020

“YouTube Select” Replaces Google Preferred Ad Program, With New Curated Content Lineups

YouTube is planning to phase out Google Preferred by the end of this year and introduce YouTube Select as “a reimagination and unification of solutions like Google Preferred and prime packs,” according to YouTube’s vice president of ad product management, Vishal Sharma in an official blog post. For years, YouTube has bundled together what it considers the top 5% most brand-friendly channels and sold advertising on them for a premium price (which generally leads, in turn, to participating creators earning higher CPMs). Prime packs are collections of channels curated around a particular popular theme. YouTube used to sell ads against prime packs for brands that want to target a specific audience. The new Select program, however, will blend prime packs with Google Preferred by offering advertisers curated “content lineups” full of YouTube-approved, brand-safe creators and videos.

Spotify Combines Its Data and Marketing Portals for Artists and Labels

Last week, Spotify formally announced the merger of its two respective data portals for artists and labels. Artists and their management teams - and the labels and distributors they work with - will all be able to access data and marketing tools from the streaming service through the same platform, to be known as Spotify for Artists. Currently, Spotify for Artists is aimed at artists and managers, while labels and distributors have access to Spotify Analytics. The former was built as part of Spotify’s outreach to artists and managers, while the latter was added to help those labels who haven’t built their own platforms processing the raw data feed that the streaming firm also provides its licensing partners. In the future, labels will appear as members of each signed artist’s team. For labels who use Spotify Analytics, they should expect an email explaining how the shift will work over the next few months.

Goldman Sachs: “Global Music Revenue Will Drop by 25% in 2020”

According to Goldman Sachs, “global music revenue will drop by 25% in 2020 on our estimates, largely due to the widespread disruption to live events.” It further added that “we expect a strong rebound in 2021” and further growth in the years after that. The 25% drop refers to all forms of music revenue, live included. Goldman Sachs expects 2020 to see a 75% drop in live music revenue, whereas it predicts that streaming revenues will grow by 18%, helping recorded music revenues to grow by 3% - ”the first year of meaningful slowdown since the market returned to growth in 2015.” Music publishing revenues are also expected to grow by 3.5% this year. The report further states that annual music industry revenues will reach $142 billion by 2030 with streaming music alone to be worth $75 billion a year thanks to 1.2 billion paid music subscribers. The recorded music market could also possibly bounce back with 26% growth in 2021 and 18% in 2022, with the live music industry “nearly returning to its pre-Covid-19 level by 2022.”

Podcasts are Absolutely Exploding - But Just 17% of Episodes Contain Music

LA-based video and music analytics firm, Pex, revealed on Twitter that, of the 32,402,790 original podcast episodes that the firm indexed, only 5,447,823 (about 16.81%) contained 10 or more seconds of “any kind” of music. Sync opportunities for artists are rising with the total quantity of podcast programs “essentially doubling every single year.” Additionally, podcast episodes have become shorter during the last half decade, down from an average length of 45 minutes and 44 seconds in 2015 to 35 minutes and 27 seconds presently. Lastly, Pex emphasized that podcasters released a staggering “6,967,370 hours” worth of shows last year - an almost 700% hike from 2015’s 1,000,000 or so hours.

UK Songwriters and Composers Generated Close to $1 Billion in Music Royalties Last Year

According to British collection society PRS for Music, a record £810.8 million (approximately $990 million) was collected on behalf of its 145,000 songwriter, composer, and music publisher members in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 8.7% or £65 million ($79 million). Its net costs for collecting royalties reduced by 6.7% YoY to £87.5 million ($107 million), and after charitable donations of £3.2 million ($4 million), resulted in distributable revenue to members of £721.1 million ($877 million). International royalty income was the largest revenue stream for PRS for Music members in 2019, with £278.7 million ($339 million) collected through reciprocal agreements with societies around the world. Royalties generated from online platforms, including downloads, online video games, and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music saw the most significant uplift, of 24.2% to £179.1 million ($218 million). PRS for Music CEO Andea C. Martin warned that “we will inevitably see a decline in future royalties in 2020 and into 2021” due to COVID-19.

YouTube Reveals the 2020 Class of Foundry, Its Global Artist Development Program

YouTube announced this week the launch of its first Foundry Class of 2020, the platform’s global artist development program that “helps independent artists use music and storytelling to engage fans all over the world and build careers with a vision that is really uniquely their own.” The new class is comprised of 12 artists from around the world, including Los Angeles singer-songwriter Adam Melchor, Birmingham grime artist and actor Jaykae, Mumbai DJ/producer duo Lost Stories, and Nigerian singer and producer Tems. Past Foundry artists include Dua Lipa, Rosalia, Kenny Beats, Omar Apollo among the approximately 120 artists it has featured to date.

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