digitalmusic.org | Digital Music

April 4, 2013 – Music business association NARM and digitalmusic.org, the home of NARM’s digital initiatives, have announced that Billboard will present the Keynote Panel at Music Biz 2013, showcasing the perspectives of young executives from its 2012 “40 Under 40” Power Players list, who were honored for “propelling [the] industry with their artistic and business vision.” The panel, named “The Future of the Biz on the Future of the Biz,” will be the centerpiece of the annual industry event’s Opening Session on Wednesday, May 8, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The panel will be moderated by Billboard’s Senior Correspondent Phil Gallo.

The Billboard 40 Under 40 Power Players confirmed to participate are:

• Joe Belliotti (Director of Entertainment Marketing, Coca-Cola), who has created direct relationships with the music industry, making Coke one of the most powerful brands in business.
• Ethiopia Habtemariam (EVP/Head of Urban Music, UMPG and SVP, Motown Records), who is revitalizing the Motown brand with seasoned acts like Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, and Ne-Yo along with newcomers like Kevin Ross and B. Smyth.
• Rebeca León (VP of Talent, AEG Live/Golden Voice and Manager, Juanes), who is the most powerful woman in Latin touring, putting together the joint tour of Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez as well as Mana’s historic seven-night run at the Staples Center.
• Tricky Stewart (President of A&R, Epic Records), who has had a leading hand in songs with sales topping 25 million records, including Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”

“These executives are moving the music industry forward in exciting arenas, from artistic to innovative,” said Jim Donio, President of NARM. “Since the goal of Music Biz is to collaborate on new solutions for the music industry of tomorrow, it made perfect sense to partner with Billboard to position these fresh ideas, viewpoints and experiences at the forefront of the program this year.”

The keynote will be open to all Music Biz 2013 registrants. Music Biz 2013 runs May 6-9, and includes a full slate of panels, keynotes, and townhalls ranging from the Music Business Academy for those just starting out to the first Metadata Summit for those already immersed in the business. The event closes with an Awards Dinner, and honorees include Buddy Guy, who will receive the Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement; Emeli Sandé, Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award;and Ted Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner at TAG Strategic, receiving the NARM’s Presidential Award for Sustained Industry Achievement, with more to be announced. For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.narm.com/events/musicbiz2013.

Jim Donio, President of music business association NARM/digitalmusic.org, commented on this week’s sales report issued by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard:

“A new generation of Christian artists is becoming a force on the Billboard charts, with Chris Tomlin’s new album ‘Burning Lights’ taking the top spot this week. It’s only the fourth Christian album to land at #1, but the second since last September, when a 15-year drought was snapped by TobyMac’s ‘Eye on It.’ We are excited to see how the Christian music movement evolves in the year ahead.

Meanwhile, on the Digital Songs Chart, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ ‘Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz)’ reached #1 for the first time. The accomplishment comes one week after the track topped the On-Demand Songs Chart, which monitors streaming activity. In fact, of the 12 songs that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2012, only two were not available on all major streaming services when they reached that milestone. Check out our new infographic, ‘To Stream or Not to Stream?: A 2012 Retrospective,’ at NARM and digitalmusic.org for other insights and stats on this topic.

Overall, sales are off to a good start, with album sales volume up 4% and digital track sales up 3% year-over-year. And with some big surprises like the release of Justin Timberlake’s new single ‘Suit & Tie,’ which is set to impact the digital songs chart next week with expected sales of 350,000, and an album in the coming months, it’s already shaping up to be a very interesting year.”

INFOGRAPHIC: To Stream Or Not To Stream? The debate over whether on-demand streaming music services affect sales continued in 2012. While it’s impossible to prove the exact effects of withholding a new release from on-demand services, this analysis of the year’s top albums and songs adds some perspective to the discussions.

Click on the infographic below to make larger.

Yesterday’s news about Topspin’s Ian Rogers leaving to head up a new streaming music service from Beats by Dre called Daisy had a very interesting subtext to it that didn’t get as much attention as it probably deserved.

Once you get past the star power news of Rogers helming the effort, as well as Trent Reznor serving as chief creative officer, there’s the interesting tidbit about Beats’ investment in Rogers’ former company Topspin, and the intention to integrate the Topspin platform into the backend of the music service.

Here’s the part that got my attention (taken from the Topspin blog post announcing the deal):

The core of this partnership, then, is a shared belief that streaming services should do a better job helping fans discover artists and connect with them directly to buy merch, tickets and other products. And so, Topspin GoDirect will become the way the Daisy service gets photos, videos and products from artists, and both companies will work together to make sure fans see those products when they listen to songs.  

In other words, the plan for Daisy is to allow fans to browse and buy artist photos, videos, merch and concert tickets while streaming their music. That’s a significant evolution of the music streaming “retail” environment we have today. It’s certainly been discussed before. This bundling of products was a central part of the MySpace Music strategy (if not execution). And Beats/Daisy isn’t the only streaming service to forecast this capability.

What’s exciting about this concept—bundling music, merch, and ticketing into one service—is that it has the potential to more accurately showcase the opportunity that streaming music services offer artists. The value proposition of on-demand streaming is one of monetizing discovery. But today’s debate over streaming music payouts to artists is stuck on the revenue provided by the streaming activity alone. But that’s not the whole story. Sure, those payouts will increase as usage increases among fans. But streaming services drive other artist revenue streams as well, such as merch, concerts and so on.

But without any strong data trail to connect the point of discovery with the subsequent commerce taking place, it’s all just theory. It’s a belief. And the debate over the “value” of on-demand streaming is reduced to one camp arguing their belief against another camp with an opposing belief.

Once these service begin directly connecting streaming music activity to merch bought or tickets sold, then artists or managers will be able to see the facts in their monthly/quarterly statements. They’ll be able to judge the benefit of the on-demand streaming services based on more than just streaming music revenue, but also that revenue along with merch and ticket sales.

That’s the future of digital music retailing. This industry is evolving past the silos of old, where recorded music sales were one thing, concert ticket sales another thing, and merch sales yet another. In the digital age, there is all kinds of money left on the table by not better connecting these dots into a more cohesive retail experience for the fan.

Physical record stores thrived by selling all things related to the fan’s music experience—CDs, t-shirts, magazines, etc. The digital replication of that environment has yet to fully catch up. So that’s why announcements like the Beats/Topspin/Daisy new of yesterday are so exciting. It shows that there’s still plenty of space for this business to grow. To evolve. To improve. Ultimately, our job as an industry is to monetize the music experience in all forms, not just one revenue channel or another.

Written By Antony Bruno is digitalmusic.org’s community manager. He will be moderating a panel at SXSW titled “Music Subscription & Artist Revenue” on March 13.

Statement of Jim Donio, President of music business association NARM, regarding U.S. year-end sales figures for 2012 (released today by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard).

“The results are in and Adele has topped the year-end album sales charts for the second consecutive year, the first time this accomplishment has been achieved by an artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Her album ‘21’ sold another 4.41 million copies in 2012, and received Diamond certification by the RIAA, an outstanding honor for any album, let alone an album that has been in the marketplace less than two years.

“Digital tracks also had a remarkable year, with a record 1.336 billion songs sold, led by Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ with 6.8 million. Overall, digital track sales volume was up 5% over 2011, which is particularly significant given that notable streaming and subscription services were available for a full year in 2012. Moreover, a record 55.74 million digital songs were sold in the final week of 2012, fueled by redemptions of music download gift cards exchanged over the holidays. It’s a figure that certainly validates music’s place as a very popular and long lasting gift. NARM and RIAA will continue to partner to promote music as a perfect gift not just for the holidays but all throughout the year via our Give the Gift of Music (givethegiftofmusic.info) program.

“The continued growth of digital albums by 14% to 117.68 million is extremely encouraging. While we experienced another year of decline in CD album sales volume by 13%, they are in no danger of disappearing. CDs still dominate the market for albums, and Nielsen forecasts that digital albums will likely not overtake CDs in terms of market share until 2015. In addition, vinyl albums continued their upward trajectory for the fifth year in a row, rising by a healthy 18% to 4.55 million.

“If we look at overall US album sales for the year, factoring in albums and track equivalents, volume was down less than 2% from 2011. This compares favorably to some other territories around the world. In terms of the broader music marketplace, it’s essential to note that data is not yet readily available that would factor in the positive economic impact of burgeoning streaming, subscription and other ad-supported models. And as smartphones, tablets and other new forms of technology enter the lives and households of more and more Americans every year, there will clearly be many new opportunities for growth of the music industry in the years ahead.”