If there was a single key theme at Midem Digital Edition 2021, it was that the days of a single key monetisation model for music are long gone.

Streaming has undoubtedly been the driver for the recorded music industry’s return to growth in the last five years, but the next phase for this business is going to be about unlocking many new revenue sources beyond those streams. Often with artists in the driving seat.

Streaming is still a very important baseline for the industry, not least because it is attracting ever more investment into music rights and music technology.

“We’ve seen the market grow very significantly, and we know this is a trend that is going to last at least for another 10, 15 years, especially in the emerging markets, where we’re still at the very early stages of recorded music adoption,” said Denis Ladegaillerie, CEO of distributor Believe, in his Midem Digital Edition keynote. “I think investors now realise that there’s that underlying structural trend.”

Streaming has far from hit its ceiling, even in the biggest and most mature markets, but as Ladegaillerie pointed out, the newer markets are where the industry is optimistic for rapid growth in the coming years.

“We’re seeing the fastest growing markets in 2021 are Turkey, Poland, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the Philippines,” said Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota in his own keynote at the event.

“This represents every continent except Africa, yet when we look at Africa, we’re seeing tremendous engagement. We’re seeing growth in platforms, and we’re seeing increased efforts to create these customised user experiences, tailored for fans, that are country specific and genre specific.”

New opportunities are the Covid-19 pandemic’s silver lining

Streaming’s growth has not been hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the experience of the last 18 months has also accelerated a number of other digital behaviours well beyond music. Gaming, online shopping, video conferencing and more. Within the music industry, too, it has wrought changes that are unlocking new ways to reach audiences and make money.

“Just because we’re going to come out of that at some point soon, and we’re coming out of it now, doesn’t mean we’re going to go back to where we were,” said SoundCloud president Eliah Seton at Midem Digital Edition.

“I think that is how 2022 will be defined: we’re all going to be going to shows again, we’re going to lose as many Zooms as we’ve had, but we’re not going right back to where we were. And all of these new advancements, because it has brought fans and artists closer together, among other changes, those are here to stay. We’re now way down a path that may have taken years longer to get down but for the last year and a half.”

Sirota had a similar view, and illustrated it with a description of the changing workflow for independent labels in 2021, as they adapt to the new environment.

“Instead of only planning a release cycle, you now need to focus on unlocking YouTube Shorts. As you look at vinyl manufacturing lead times, you’re creating Snap lenses. As you plan the next promo tour, you’re pitching your music to influencers on TikTok,” he said.

“We are in the midst of an evolution of what it means to build social connections between fans, artists, and their music.”

Niche communities go deeper for artists and fans

It is these deeper social connections and communities that are providing one fertile path for the industry to explore, according to Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer and EVP, business development at Warner Music Group.

“Today the traditional streaming platforms enable global scale. Massive scale of eyeballs. So if you get on a playlist or you get on the right chart or the right radio algorithm, you can be and reach all of these people in all of these different places and really have massive success. But there is also a space for niche communities and micro communities,” she said at Midem Digital Edition.

“Communities of fans, and that’s really what I think technology is enabling… It’s being able to speak directly to a smaller fanbase that is a lot more engaged, a lot more interested in creating value, training, engagement and opportunity, and obviously a lot of those can be monetised.”

Ruxandra was part of the session involving SoundCloud’s Seton and his colleague, chief content and marketing officer Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood. She also talked about the potential of these communities.

“We want to open this experience up to ensure that all of your core fans and future fans have the opportunity to directly support you, to directly communicate with you, and for you as an artist to have the opportunity to then communicate with the fans, so that you can continue those commercial opportunities outside of the album or single cycle.” she said.

Seton contrasted these opportunities with the much-discussed economic model of streaming, and how that works for the majority of artists.

“It’s something like 50,000 tracks a day or 60,000 tracks a day getting distributed to DSPs. That’s a massive number. A tremendous amount of noise. Even with the tidal wave of streaming, there just aren’t enough streams for that to make it possible for all the creators to live off of that work,” he said.

“The opportunity there is to create non-streaming sources of income in those interactions, and create products, tools and services that are above and beyond, or separate from the stream. If you wanted to spend a hundred dollars right now on your favourite artist, it actually is kind of hard to do that. And I think in a matter of time, that’s gonna change dramatically.”

Live concerts return after lockdown, but livestreaming isn’t going away

Another new monetisation model up for discussion at Midem Digital Edition was livestreaming, where a panel discussion of where it goes next predicted that it will carve out a role alongside physical concerts as they return, rather than being seen as a pandemic-only trend.

“Livestreaming now fits into the anthology of everything else that we do as artists and as creators and people that represent artists. And I think that’s a good thing,” said Ric Salmon, CEO of promoter Driift, during a panel on livestreaming.

“We’re just finding that it’s part of the general lexicon of what people are talking about. ‘Yeah, of course we’re going to do a livestream, and we’re going to do it at that point when we release the album in June next year or in October next year.”

This is aided by the interest of the biggest streaming and social services, with YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, TikTok and others all keen to do more with artists around livestream events.

TikTok’s global head of music Ole Obermann explained that while most music livestreams on that service have been free so far, it has been experimenting with paid events too.

“We’ve done in Asia a few of these programs, and very big numbers. Half a million plus in the case of one that we did in Korea a few months ago,” he said.

“Really really big numbers. So we’re pretty excited about what we can do there. We don’t even want it to be just the superstar artists who are gonna draw half a million or a million or even millions of audience. We love the idea also of working with emerging artists, and perhaps those are paid events, perhaps those are unpaid events just to get the spark going, but we want to work with artists across all the different levels of their careers.”

There was a sense of livestreaming as working in partnership with other monetisation models, from music releases to the newest, buzziest income streams.

“We have encountered several cases where the livestream is really a complement to a moment-in-time offering,” said Michelle Munson, CEO of tech firm Eluvio, during the same panel as Salmon.

“We have been involved in three different opportunities that, all shows that have used the streaming experience as the sort of compatible partner along with some type of NFT offer or drop, and that’s also being combined with tours and new releases.”

Understanding NFTs’ true potential: community and utility

NFTs have seen plenty of hype and also a backlash so far this year. At Midem Digital Edition there were some clear-eyed verdicts on what this technology really means for musicians and music companies however. One of those being that this tech is here for the long term.

“It’s a technology of trade. It’s an advancement of how we will trade, with the way we use cash. It’s similar to that, and it will be the next credit card,” suggested artist Steve Aoki in his appearance at the event.

“We already live in a semi-digital semi-physical world. This is just an advancement of how we will be bartering, buying, selling and trading… Soon we will all be buying, selling and trading NFTs to exist. It’ll just be part of natural life.”

Aoki and several other speakers emphasised that music NFTs are not a get-rich-quick scheme however, despite the many headlines in early 2021 about multi-million dollar sales for some of the early examples.

“The most important thing is that each advancement and each innovation that different artists and creators are bringing to the culture are bringing more value or what’s important to the people that are buying,” said Aoki.

“People that are part of the community. I think that’s one of the most important things for people that are new to this is that this is about the people that are part of what you’re doing. If you’re not providing value to your community, in a way that they see that there’s a value, then there’s so many others that they can join.”

He was backed up by Joel ‘deadmau5’ Zimmermann, speaking in a session dedicated to NFTs and their potential for music.

“Right now it’s just this mad scramble, with the spotlight kind of on, you know, selling a JPEG for a million dollars or whatever. I’m really paying attention to what that underlying technology can do for future shows, tangible goods and services and stuff like that,” he said.

Shara Senderoff, partner and president at investment firm Raised In Space, agreed with this vision of usefulness being the way NFTs will unlock value for artists and fans alike.

“The future of it is that they hold utility. They either become an access key to unlock a world. They become a ticket that could get you into a show. They become exchangeable for something else. Maybe not all of them, but the nature of where we’re headed is that there has to be utility,” she said.

“You can’t just purchase something and it sits in your wallet and you hope that it becomes worth more money. We’ve never seen anything truly happen like that. So I think this is going to a place where you can utilise them.”

Making the most of the emerging creator economy

Another strong theme of Midem Digital Edition 2021 was the creator economy, and specifically how our industry gets to grips with a world where there are many, many millions of music creators, who can’t possibly all be supported by streaming, but who could individually find revenue streams outside that which work for them.

“The creator markets in the traditional world was a very small market. Very few artists around the world, and in most of the countries who actually captured 80% of the value of the market,” said Believe’s Ladegaillerie.

“Now we live in a world where the creator economy is an economy where at very early stages, all of our creators have market access… Some of them are going to remain a hobbyist musician, but some of them are going to become the future superstars of tomorrow.”

In a session focusing on ‘Elevating the Creator Economy’, Midia Research MD Mark Mulligan noted that while there are around five million musicians currently self-releasing their music to digital services, there are “around half a billion” people currently either playing an instrument or planning to learn one, and 55 million who are producing and recording music in some form.

“We essentially have the collision of two irresistible forces. The irresistible force of this vast growth in the number of music creators, and the irresistible force of a finite pot of [streaming]revenue to be shared among creators,” said Mulligan. But his colleague, research consultant Kriss Thakrar, noted that this is where other revenue streams come in.

“They’re finding all these new, other avenues of monetisation through things like Twitch, through things like beat platforms, things where they can monetise their process and engage with communities to participate in a creator economy and get a lot more fulfilment out of their efforts as creators,” he said.

Mulligan continued that theme. “These small creators, what they want is to be respected in their scenes, and be successful where they can be successful. That doesn’t necessarily mean being successful in streaming any more,” he said.

“Doesn’t mean they won’t still want to get the music onto streaming services, it just might be the places they find success might be on TikTok, it might be on Beatstars, it might be in BandLab, it could be a whole host of other different places. They’re essentially monetising their niches.”

Sync opportunities, diversity and the climate emergency

Midem Digital Edition 2021 also hosted debate about other opportunities and key challenges for the music industry as it enters 2022. The booming market in online video being one of the former category.

Netflix‘s director, music creative production, series Alexandra Patsavas offered plenty of encouragement to music companies and artists hoping to see their tracks featured in popular shows, but warned that they must make sure to get the basics of pitching right.

“It’s about focusing your pitch. Are you interested in a certain programme because you love that showrunner or the content that you’ve heard about? Think about where you’re sending it, and then make sure that if you are sending it, that you understand who owns the master and the publishing,” she said. “It’s important to have those rights in place so that if the supervisor has to move quickly and secure those rights, they can do that.”

Improving diversity, equity and inclusion in the music industry is one of the biggest challenges, but also the biggest opportunities if the music business can get it right. Midem’s Breaking Barriers: How Services are Facilitating a More Equitable Music Industry session offered a positive view of the progress made so far, and a clear-eyed vision of the change that still needs to come.

“What I’m really motivated by is how our companies and our industry can commit to a real improvement in the balance,” said Molly Neuman, president of Songtrust.

“When we team up, it sends a statement. And I think for me, that statement is that were telling the industry and the world that we support the advancement of women, women of colour and women from marginalised communities, and that we are coming together to create unique opportunities specifically for these groups,” added Faryal Khan-Thompson, VP international at TuneCore.

“I think we are seeing a positive change. I think we are seeing a positive difference… How do we lift up? Because the more we can lift up the other women and have more women at the table making the decisions, we can create a better, fair playing field for music artists, songwriters, producers,” said Addy Awofisayo, head of music, sub-Saharan Africa at YouTube.

Meanwhile, on the challenges front, Midem Digital Edition’s Acting for Climate – One Record at a Time panel outlined why the music industry can and must do more to help tackle the climate emergency, including encouraging fans and governments alike by example.

“To put it in some context, let’s not forget that more than half of all carbon and greenhouse emissions ever released have been released since Kylie Minogue released The Locomotion just over 30 years ago!” said Maddy Read Clarke, co-founder and campaign director at Music Declares Emergency.

“We need radical action from governments and corporations, and how do we in the music industry contribute to making that a reality? How do we ensure there’s sufficient political will to ramp up action?” said Peter Quicke, co-CEO of independent label Ninja Tune.

“And really, we can do that by reducing our own emissions, and using our voice where we can, using the voice of artists where we can, to reassure politicians and the world generally that we’re taking this seriously, and that us as part of the electorate, as part of the business community, think that radical action is required.”

Wrapping it all together: a music industry embracing change

Bringing this all together, there was a sense at Midem Digital Edition 2021 of a music industry whose community of creators is exploding in size; where new business models are suddenly springing up to suit large music companies and individual, independent musicians alike; and – importantly – where these new models can be creatively rewarding rather than simply a pipeline of dollars.

This was seen when Matt Heafy, of metal band Trivium, explained in a joint session with Twitch why he sees that video platform as more than just an income stream.

“Twitch has actually made me better at what I do for a living,” he said. “When I’m streaming out here, what I’m doing 75 to 90 per cent of the time is rehearsing my band’s music to our followers. And in doing that, when you’re rehearsing correctly and practising correctly, inevitably you should be getting better at what you do.”

“So I’ve noticed that I’ve become a better singer, screamer, rhythm guitar player, lead guitar player. I’ve become better at public speaking, better at entertaining, better at jokes! All sorts of things. It’s been truly amazing. That’s all thanks to being able to be connected non-stop to the people directly who support our band.”

Heafy has adapted to a new platform, just as the music industry is learning to become ever more flexible in response to the various new monetisation opportunities. This was something that both Merlin’s Sirota and WMG’s Ruxandra emphasised.

Ruxandra noted that fans are driving many of these opportunities through the platforms where they gather and the new digital behaviours that have been accelerated by the pandemic.

“It’s not creating experiences you think the fans want, and them building on top of that. It is: consumers are deciding things, and they are deciding what they want to do and deciding what they want to listen to, and we need to build and enable those experiences,” she said.

“There’s no stopping consumers from engaging with technology, so you’ve really gotta enhance, you’ve really got to dig in.”

Sirota riffed on the theory of an ever-evolving landscape of music, technology and creators.  “Let’s take a long view of the music industry, where we know there’s one constant: change. Constant change and more change,” he said.

“Change that has disrupted business models. Change that has disrupted revenue streams. Change that has disrupted the means by which music is created, released and marketed.”

“Change requires continually reinventing your approach to the market. The new leaders who will succeed are going to be those who embrace an important truism: change is endemic to music.”

Get more insights from Midem Digital Edition 2021 with sessions available on-demand on our dedicated Youtube Playlist. Enjoy!

Embrace the New Monetisation Frontier sis the theme for this year’s Midem Digital Edition.

The 2021 online event runs from November 16 to 19, presenting a packed programme of high-profile keynotes, artist showcases and talks, the music-tech startup competition Midemlab, live workshops and networking session.

Read the Midem News Magazine here : MIDEM 2021 NEWS

Midem Digital Edition is accessible to all free of charge. All you need to do is register on Midem Digital to access all sessions.

You are already registered for Midem Digital: login here.

New participant: Complete the form and create a free account to start using the platform here.

Midem Digital Edition (November 16-19) is approaching, with a programme of sessions exploring the most important music industry trends of 2021, new music monetisation frontiers, not to mention the biggest opportunities for the business and its musicians to grow in 2022.

Here are seven things not to miss from this year’s online event!

1. Learning how you can optimise your music catalogue

Several key sessions at Midem Digital Edition 2021 will focus on the opportunities for music companies, and how they can optimize their catalogues to make the most of them.

One of the big trends of 2021 has been a succession of acquisitions of music-rights catalogues, spearheaded by companies like Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Round Hill Music and Primary Wave, with investment companies including KKR and Blackstone also entering the market.

Midem Digital Edition’s “Forever Hits: Catalog Rights Big Booming Business“ session will take a deeper look at this trend, with the help of Primary Wave’s president and founding partner, Justin Shukat, as well as at what changing consumption trends mean for older catalogue music.

Another opportunity for catalogue music, as Fleetwood Mac know well, is TikTok. Old tracks are being rediscovered there by a younger generation of music fans, so how can the music industry capitalize? TikTok’s global head of music Ole Obermann will be explaining how in his Midem Digital Edition keynote.

Video subscription services like Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are another exciting frontier for catalogue music to find new audiences. Veteran music supervisor and Netflix’s in-house head of music for original series Alexandra Patsavas will be joining us to talk about the opportunities she sees, as well as some of the challenges around licensing and clearance.

2. Understanding music consumption habits of today… and tomorrow!

The music industry is embracing new technology and new business models like never before, and a big part of this year’s Midem Digital Edition programme will explore that potential – based on the evolving consumption habits of music fans.

This will include an examination of the newest opportunity of all: non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which have already been tested by a number of artists in 2021. “The NFT Revolution: Opportunities and Risks in the Music Industry“ session includes one of those early adopters: electronic music star Joel ‘deadmau5’ Zimmerman, accompanied by his manager Dean Wilson and investment firm Raised In Space‘s president Shara Senderoff.

A conversation between Tracy Chan, Twitch’s VP, Head of Music and Trivium’s frontman, Matt Heafy will highlight how artists can today create new interactive spaces online and generate more revenues in the process.

Technology firm Hitlab will be presenting a session on “How AI is Shaking Up the Music Industry“, explaining how artificial intelligence technologies of various kinds can help music companies evolve.

There is also a focus on independent artists at Midem Digital Edition this year. SoundCloud will host a workshop explaining how its “fan-powered innovations“ are helping musicians to build their careers, while Believe will present its vision of “Innovation for Independent Artists and Producers”.

3. Getting inspiration for building your international strategy

The world’s biggest recorded music markets may have stayed the same – the US, Japan, UK and Germany – but the streaming era has vastly expanded the horizons of musicians and music companies when it comes to reaching audiences in other parts of the world too.

At Midem Digital Edition 2021, you can expect plenty of inspiration on how to grow internationally. Horus Music is bringing together a panel from Brazil to explore how to break there through its music services, for example.

China is an exciting market for international and domestic artists alike. A panel will explore the status of its music industry, as well as copyright-related environmental issues, with speakers including Tencent’s legal director Qihu Yang and Taihe Music Group SVP, Xin Liu.

The Midem lineup will also offer another chance to watch some of the helpful sessions from its sister events this year. “Africa’s Role in a Global Music Marketplace” and “The Afro Arab Sound” from Midem Africa 2021, and “Decoding the Alternative Music Scenes of Latin America” from the Midem Latin American Forum 2021.

4. Getting the full picture on the artist and label services ecosystem

The rise of streaming has brought with it a new ecosystem of ‘artists direct’ – artists who release their music through distributors, and build a team around them to promote it and find partnerships to grow.

Midem Digital Edition 2021 will be taking full notice of this trend, including a session exploring “Artist Services in the Fan Economy“ featuring SoundCloud‘s president Eliah Seaton and chief content and marketing officer Lauren Wirtzer Seawood, and Warner Music Group‘s Oana Ruxandra.

Women in Music will also be bringing together a panel to discuss “How Services are Facilitating a More Equitable Music Industry“ with speakers including TuneCore‘s VP international Farval Khan-Thompson and MD in India Heena Kriplani; YouTube‘s head of music, Sub-Saharan Africa Addy Awofisayo, Songtrust president Molly Neuman and President of Stem Distrinution, Kristina Graziani.

We’ll also have the now-traditional Spotify for Artists Masterclass, guiding musicians and their teams through the latest features for marketing and audience development on Spotify. Meanwhile, on the royalties side of things, a session will explain the potential for “Cracking Up the Black Box to Improve the Life of Creators” presented by Bridger, if the industry can build an open, solid and consistent metadata environment.

5. Hearing and meeting speakers and attendees from around the world

With Covid-19 yet to be eradicated, this year’s Midem is online again. But that brings with it the silver lining of a truly global lineup of speakers, as well as attendees.

Besides the companies mentioned in this blog post, you’ll be able to use the dedicated networking tools to connect with artists, labels, managers, publishers, distributors, streaming services, collecting societies, brands, booking agencies, promoters, technology companies’ music teams and startups during the event and afterwards!

6. Discovering the most promising music-tech startups of 2021

The Midemlab startups contest is back for its 14th edition in 2021, with a competition that in the past has showcased companies including SoundCloud, Songkick, Kickstarter and The Echo Nest.

This year, 20 finalists will be pitching their wares in four categories: music creation and education; music distribution and discovery; music marketing and data / analytics; and live music experiences.

You will be able to watch all the pitching sessions as part of Midem Digital Edition, and then tune in for the winners announcement live at 18:00 CET on 16 November.

Midemlab has always been a chance to get a brilliant snapshot of new ideas and technological trends, and judging by 2021’s lineup of finalists – you can find links to them all here – this year will be no different.

7. Seeing the brightest new musical talents of the Midem Talent Exporter

One of the most exciting developments in recent years at Midem have been the performances of up and coming artists. Recreating the Cannes beach venue online may not be possible, but the Midem Talent Exporter ensures we will still have a lineup of the most promising talents from across the globe to check out.

Held in partnership with Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), 12 artists have been selected this year, running the full musical gamut from Singaporean hip-hop and African future-pop to Ukrainian rap and Bulgarian pop.

The 12 artists will be showing off their work; getting a fireside talk from electronic music star Steve Aoki; pitching to a carefully selected group of international talent buyers; and meeting supervisors from film, TV, games companies, agencies and brands.

It could be your first chance to spot the next global superstar, and/or to find artists who you could work with in some capacity in the future.

Discover fresh new music at the Midem Songwriting Camp 2021 in Partnership with TAICCA in which more than 20 artists will present their collaboration during an exclusive listening session.

Midem Digital Edition is accessible to all free of charge. All you need to do is register on Midem Digital to access all sessions.

You are already registered for Midem Digital: login here

New participant: Complete the form and create a free account to start using the platform here