Water & Music

📈 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗥𝗢𝗜 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 Our 2024 State of Data in the Music Industry report uncovers a paradox: - 59% of respondents say their company plans to increase their data budget in the next 12 months. - Yet, over 40% struggle to assess ROI on their current data investments. As the volume and complexity of music data increases, how can music companies better measure and communicate the ROI on their data strategy? The key lies in more effectively connecting data acquisition to tangible business outcomes. We explore potential approaches in our full State of Data in the Music Industry report, out now: https://lnkd.in/eRdEemBe #musicindustry #dataanalytics #musictech #musicbusiness #musicbiz #musicdata #datastrategy

🔍 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆'𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 What data do music professionals crave the most today? Our 2024 State of Data in the Music Industry report reveals specific requests around: 1️⃣ Detailed fan demographics and behaviors 2️⃣ Granular streaming metrics 3️⃣ Live music & ticketing data 4️⃣ Unified publishing metadata The catch? Much of this data already exists, but remains fragmented or inaccessible. How can we bridge these data gaps? Explore our analysis in the full State of Data in the Music Industry report: https://lnkd.in/eRdEemBe #musicindustry #dataanalytics #musictech #musicbusiness #musicbiz #musicdata #datastrategy

Water & Music's 2024 State of Data in the Music Industry Report has identified Chartmetric as the industry's most utilized tool for market intelligence data. The report surveys 600 professionals across 6 continents and 12+ industry sectors, including record labels, music publishing, artist management, and more. Among responses, 84% reported using Chartmetric within the past 12 months. We asked founder and lead editor Cherie Hu about her thoughts on Chartmetric and data tools across the board. She shared, "Our State of Data in the Music Industry report shows how important third-party music data tools like Chartmetric have become in today's industry. Across streaming, social, and audience data, the volume and complexity of music data continues to grow on a weekly basis. By aggregating information from multiple sources, third-party music intelligence tools enable industry pros to cut through the noise, identify emerging trends, and benchmark performance — all in service of making more informed, thoughtful, and strategic decisions. We expect these tools to become even more integral to industry operations in the future, making complex data analysis more accessible and actionable for a wide range of music companies." Read the full insights from Water & Music at their report here: https://lnkd.in/eRdEemBe #musicindustry #musictech #musicbusiness #musicnews #musicdata

🏆 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 Our 2024 State of Data in the Music Industry report reveals the most popular tools shaping music data strategy today. Some areas have clear leaders. For instance, the top-ranked tools in first-party music streaming analytics (Spotify for Artists) and music market intelligence (Chartmetric) have an adoption rate of >80% among those who use music consumption data to do their jobs. But other categories like music distribution and fan CRM remain incredibly fragmented, with no clear winner. Is this a sign of an endemic industry challenge in scaling music data tools — and/or an opportunity for innovation? Dive deeper into the music data ecosystem in our State of Data in the Music Industry report — out now: https://lnkd.in/eRdEemBe #musicindustry #dataanalytics #musictech #musicbusiness #musicbiz #musicdata #datastrategy

We're thrilled to announce the release of our 2024 State of Data in the Music Industry report. With responses from 600 professionals across 6 continents and 12+ sectors, this is one of the most comprehensive surveys ever conducted on how the music industry collects, manages, and leverages data. https://lnkd.in/eRdEemBe Key takeaways: 1️⃣ Music professionals are awash in data, yet in many cases starving for actionable insights. Music data is abundant and diverse. Our respondents use an average of 3 different types of tools in their data operations — ranging from first-party streaming and distributor dashboards, to third-party market intelligence platforms, fan CRM tools, and in-house solutions. But the detailed data that people actually want is still fragmented and expensive. In organizations, music data is often siloed, with only a few employees in key positions having access to data tools — even for in-house solutions. Cost is also a major obstacle, especially for smaller teams with limited budgets. 2️⃣ Companies across the board are increasing their data investments, while struggling to quantify their returns. There was a pervasive feeling among our respondents of a "data arms race," with 59% of respondents expecting their company to increase data budgets. Yet, over 40% of respondents are unsure about or unable to assess the ROI from their company's current data strategy. There is a lot of data acquisition happening without the proper contextualization — namely, understanding how the data being acquired fits into a company’s broader strategy to drive tangible, sustainable business outcomes. 3️⃣ Addressing fundamental data challenges appears more urgent than investing in cutting-edge technologies. Adoption of emerging tech solutions for music data remains limited. 40% of respondents use AI in their data operations, facing challenges including lack of expertise, high costs, and ethical concerns. Web3 adoption has decreased significantly, from 24% of respondents in 2023 to just 14% in 2024. Meanwhile, notable gaps in data literacy and tooling persist across the industry. Only a third of respondents say their company offers data literacy training, and many still rely on basic tools like email and manual spreadsheets for fan data management. General-purpose CRM solutions are more prevalent than music-specific ones, indicating a gap in adoption of tools tailored for the industry's unique needs. There's a clear opportunity for music companies to strengthen their core data foundations, providing a better base for future technological advancements. ------ Want the complete picture? Sign up for a Water & Music membership to unlock the full report — including insights on: - The modern music data stack - Rankings of the most popular data tools - The industry's "data wishlist" - AI and Web3's impact on music data strategy Link to our membership page in the comments!

🚨 Big announcement... Next week, Water & Music will release our "State of Data in the Music Industry 2024" report — one of the most comprehensive surveys ever conducted on how the music industry collects, manages, and leverages data. We received responses from 600 professionals across 6 continents and 12+ industry sectors, including recording, publishing, artist management, live events, and much more. A huge thank you to Music Tomorrow for passing on the baton and entrusting us with this year's edition. Here's a sneak peek at what you'll find in our report: 1️⃣ A framework for the modern music data stack — from streaming and distributor analytics, to direct-to-fan services and in-house data management tools 2️⃣ Rankings of the most popular music data tools across the stack (some might surprise you!) 3️⃣ Special focus on fan CRM, and the challenges of scaling music-specific fan data products 4️⃣ The industry's biggest pain points in working with data — and the definitive industry "data wishlist" 5️⃣ How AI and Web3 are shaping music data strategy, and the hurdles that remain to their implementation Want to be the first to get our free executive summary? Sign up for our newsletter here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ejzkJ8WF The full report — including data visualizations, in-depth tool rankings, and detailed behavioral insights — will be available exclusively to Water & Music members. You can become a member today to guarantee full access, at a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional market research. Link to learn more in the comments. You won't want to miss this crucial snapshot of the music industry's data landscape. See you next week! 📊 🎵 #musicindustry #dataanalytics #musictech #musicbusiness #musicbiz #musicdata #datastrategy

We're now three months into running Daily Music Data — our daily IG account at Water & Music, where we share at least one curated music industry data point every weekday with analysis on why it matters. Some clear themes have emerged in the kinds of insights that resonate the most with our 2,000+ followers. Below is an overview of the most popular stats we've shared so far, with some high-level takeaways that connect the dots: I. INDUSTRY POWER DYNAMICS 💡 By distribution ownership, the three major labels (Universal, Warner, Sony) control 84% of the recorded music market, with Universal leading at 39%. (Source: Billboard) 💡 Out of the 7M artists releasing music today, only 5% are signed to a record label. (Source: MIDiA Research) 💡 Warner Music Group reported $1.1B in total unrecouped advances to artists and songwriters in 2023 — a 26% increase from 2022. (Source: Warner Music Group 2023 Annual Report) 🔎 The story: While the vast majority of artists are operating independently, major labels still maintain a stronghold on overall market share, and on financing and distribution for the upper echelon of artists. II. FAN & CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 💡 82% of Gen Zs find out about new music through social media or UGC video sites — compared to just 33% from streaming service recommendations. (Source: Deloitte) 💡 47% of Gen Z report belonging to a fandom that no one they know personally is a part of. (Source: YouTube Culture & Trends Report) 💡 Spotify users have made 725M+ playlists so far in 2024 — already accounting for 9% of all user-curated playlists on the platform. (Source: Spotify) 🔎 The story: UGC is a primary driver of music discovery AND fandom today. Moreover, social media, not streaming, is now the leading indicator of music culture, which correlates with fandom becoming more fragmented and niche. III. STARTUPS & NEW TECH 💡 Out of the 20 largest music-tech funding rounds in history, only 4 happened after 2018, for NetEase Cloud Music, Epidemic Sound, DICE, and Suno. (Source: Crunchbase) 💡 Users of the music AI app Udio are generating an average of 864K new songs every single day. (Source: Udio / Bloomberg) 💡 League of Legends’ monthly Spotify listeners have grown over 8.5X in the last 5 years, from 2M in June 2019 to 17.5M in June 2024. (Source: Chartmetric) 🔎 The story: While the music-tech market has matured from a funding perspective, there are still ample opportunities to build new frontiers for music creation, distribution, and consumption, especially through intersections with adjacent areas of tech and entertainment like AI and gaming. Follow us on IG @dailymusicdata for more daily industry insights like these. Our team combs through 70+ unique data sources to pull out the stats and insights that really matter, in a format that you can digest in 2 minutes or less. #musicindustry #dailymusicdata #musicdata #musicbusiness #musicbiz #musictech

Test your foundational knowledge of music industry trends: 🧐 What's the collective market share of the three major record labels? 🧐 What about market share for major music publishers (hint: it looks a bit different)? 🧐 What % of people discover music on streaming services vs. on social media? 🧐 How much VC funding went into music-tech startups in 2023? 🧐 In the top music markets, how much consumer spending can be attributed to music tourism (hint: we're talking billions of $$$)? 🧐 What's the current state of the gender pay gap at major music companies? Curious about the answers? Follow @dailymusicdata on Instagram for these insights and more! We share at least one curated music industry data point every single weekday, along with our brief analysis on why it matters — helping you stay informed on need-to-know trends in the evolving music and tech landscape. Don't miss out on these essential stats — follow us now and boost your industry knowledge today. #musicindustry #musicbiz #musicbusiness #musictech #musicdata #datainsights #dailymusicdata

Test your knowledge on the latest music industry trends: 🧐 How many playlists have Spotify users made so far in 2024? 🧐 What % of Americans self-identify as "superfans"? 🧐 How much are major labels like Universal Music Group worth on the stock market? 🧐 Just how much shorter have Billboard Hot 100 songs gotten since the 90s? 🧐 What % of artists are dissatisfied with their streaming income? Curious about the answers? Follow @dailymusicdata on Instagram for these insights and more! We share one curated music industry data point every single weekday, along with our brief analysis on why it matters — helping you stay informed on need-to-know trends in the evolving music and tech landscape. Don't miss out on these essential stats — follow us now and boost your industry knowledge today. #musicindustry #musicbiz #musicbusiness #musictech #musicdata #datainsights #dailymusicdata

Test your knowledge on the latest music industry trends: 🧐 How many playlists have Spotify users made so far in 2024? 🧐 What % of Americans self-identify as "superfans"? 🧐 How much are major labels like Universal Music Group worth on the stock market? 🧐 Just how much shorter have Billboard Hot 100 songs gotten since the 90s? 🧐 What % of artists are dissatisfied with their streaming income? Curious about the answers? Follow @dailymusicdata on Instagram for these insights and more! We share one curated music industry data point every single weekday, along with our brief analysis on why it matters — helping you stay informed on need-to-know trends in the evolving music and tech landscape. Don't miss out on these essential stats — follow us now and boost your industry knowledge today. #musicindustry #musicbiz #musicbusiness #musictech #musicdata #datainsights #dailymusicdata