Digital History
The music streaming industry is at a critical juncture . While revenues are at an all-time high, driven by 800 million premium subscribers and a global market worth c. $22 billion, market developments threaten to create and entrench a two-tier system that disadvantages independent music stakeholders. This report evaluates industry changes through... See more
Dan Fowler • Combating the Emergence of a Two-Tier Music Streaming Market: Analysis and recommendations to support a future industry of innovation, inclusivity, and sustainable growth
Warmer. Very warm. Stratification here we come.
You can’t convince the general public that technological progress is actually bad if they like it.
Worker’s Song | Franz Nicolay
Hellman & Friedman 's majority stake in Global Music Rights marks a watershed moment — private equity firms now control three major PROs (alongside New Mountain Capital's BMI and Blackstone's SESAC). Blackstone 's successful acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund further cements institutional investors’ central role in the financialization of music... See more
Music tech ownership ouroboros, 2025 edition
And in the court’s strenuous efforts to walk that fine line between the iPod and the RIAA, it shamelessly made up an entire copyright law doctrine without batting an eye, a theory of liability that hadn’t existed up until that point in time.
The year of the music licensing legal wars
The most prominent recent victory for organized musicians was 2018’s Music Modernization Act, which, among other things, established mechanical royalties for streaming, based on a “grand bargain” offering streaming services indemnity from infringement lawsuits in exchange for royalties. The MMA was sponsored by conservative Republicans Bob... See more
Worker’s Song | Franz Nicolay
Lawsuits from major publishers against Suno and Udio are not, as libertarian boosters, VCs and Tech Bros would say, an attack on innovation. They are a warning shot against a business model that turns creative labor into raw machine fuel under the pretense of fair use.
There is also a slightly subtler impact, noted by labels that we interviewed, on new artists, whereby their growth trajectory has been impacted due to the chilling effect on their ability to monetise the earliest stage of their career, and their access to support and services from platforms. Applying arbitrary thresholds to artists who are just... See more
Dan Fowler • Combating the Emergence of a Two-Tier Music Streaming Market: Analysis and recommendations to support a future industry of innovation, inclusivity, and sustainable growth
In a stunning rebuke of traditional GOP deregulatory instincts, the Senate voted 99–1 to kill the measure. For the first time in decades, conservative priorities placed local cultural guardianship over the absolute freedom to innovate. That vote showed just how unsteady the old coalitions have become, and how powerful the populist realignment... See more
This occurs across a competitive backdrop in the industry that has seen increased M&A activity, be that major labels acquiring indie labels and distributors, or catalogue acquisition. Heritage rights retain a premium, and market share is being bought, arguably, at the cost of investment in new, innovative music. Independent labels talk of it... See more