Composium Digest: Gainz
№36 | Anouk Dyussembayeva | May 10, 2022
Composium Digest is a newsletter-only addition delivered once a week. Get overviews of interesting stories happening in the music industry, stay informed of various opportunities music startups and companies offer and catch up on some of the Composium articles you might have missed.
Spotify Island
I was waiting for this one. Spotify, the No.1 DSP, is teaming up with Roblox, one of the leaders of gamification and virtual music+gaming events.
This benefits both platforms: Roblox has hosted concerts for Lil Nas X before, but this partnership solidified its position as a power player in the field. Recently, Lizzo and Jaden Smith also performed on the platform as part of the Song Breaker Awards.
Facing more and more competition from both non-music players like TikTok and music streamers alike — and the Q1 results weren’t fantastic either — Spotify knew it had to do something. And because every business revolves around community and the Swedish streamer didn’t offer its listeners community-engaging experiences as much, this was the most logical step.
In this partnership, both artists and fans can take part in quests, find content, and of course shop for merch (both from Spotify and the musicians themselves) — all within an island that connects smaller islands. The first artists “arriving” on the landscape are Kpop stars Stray Kids and Sunmi.
As expected, the line dividing the music and gaming industries is becoming more blurred as virtual and augmented experiences become a routine part of our daily lives.
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here
Stepping it up
Ever since TikTok entered the music industry ring with a distribution platform (SoundOn), sound editing app (Mawf), and a music streaming service (Qishui Yinyue), DSPs are rushing to level the field.
There are two logical steps that DSPs can currently take as the competition gets more intense: win by going community-first or focusing on improving their music discovery algorithms. SoundCloud is attempting the latter by buying Musiio.
* For a further read, check out the Andreessen Horowitz article on how community drives business growth *
Musiio, a Singapore-headquartered music technology company that specializes in AI-driven solutions for the music industry (metadata tagging at scale, audio reference search, and a playlisting product), its Hit Potential Algorithm scores music based on its likelihood of commercial success.
There couldn’t have been a better match given that SoundCloud is basically a launch platform for emerging artists. Pair Musiio’s Hit Potential algorithm with SoundCloud’s accelerator program and immense data and you get a new music industry power couple.
Stats
The recorded music industry garnered $26 billion
Well, at least someone can say they’ve had a great Q1 — Live Nation gained $1.8 billion in revenue
Universal Music Group’s revenue jumped 20%
Bach would’ve earned $24.7 million in royalties today — his "Cello Suite No. 1” makes twice as much as Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”
NFTs, NFTs, NFTs
Non-fungible tokens from services such as Ethereum (famous for Bored Apes) are coming to Instagram. The social media platform will allow users to prove ownership, share NFTs on their pages, and tag the creators.
Snoop Dog’s recent NFT drop featured up-and-coming artists — the web3 space is leveling the field, allowing both superstars and emerging musicians to prosper
Other links to check out
Andreessen Horowitz writes about the seven ingredients needed to build a true metaverse
Are celeb apps still a thing? Coldplay launches one for its Music Of The Spheres tour featuring games, exclusive content, and low-carbon travel plans