What Will This Mean for the Music Industry?
People have more access to music than ever thanks to streaming services, thanks in no small part to this trend.
Not only can people stream all their favorites and similar tracks that might catch their eye, but streaming services have even enabled small artists to gain greater discoverability and exposure through this avenue; it has altered our listening habits while opening new opportunities for live-streaming services.
In 2019, the music streaming market totaled 20.9 billion dollars. It was predicted to experience an annual compounded compound annual growth rate of 17.8%.
Spotify, Apple Music, and other services comprise this vast ecosystem - as do podcasts, music videos, and audiobooks, which all play their essential part. These services allow people to listen to whatever they like whenever they like!
The Recorded Music Artists Academy conducted research in 2019, revealing that music streaming accounted for 88% of the recorded music industrys revenue.
If you want to work in the music industry, staying informed on streaming services will allow you to keep pace with trends and stay ahead of the competition.
Below, we highlight several trends we believe will define the future of streaming music services.
Music Streaming Market Share
Apple Music currently holds second place and represents 33.37 percent of the music streaming app market; explore Spotifys features for inspiration when creating your application.
Peer-to-peer file sharing was first used to introduce streaming music. Napster and Limewire pioneered this movement before eventually closing due to unauthorized copyright use; even though these sites existed only briefly, they influenced music industry practices regarding accessibility methods.
Pandora and Spotify were established during the mid-2000s in an attempt to alter the cost of music streaming - rather than charging consumers directly.
Instead, they paid labels per streamed track.
Top Music Streaming App Development Trends to Consider in 2023
Businesses involved with digital music must remain attentive this year as customer demands vary every month.
Consult an app developer to update or redesign your streaming music application for maximum effectiveness.
Developers of next-gen music streaming applications will have an outsized influence over how music evolves.
Innovation has led to an increase in social engagement and subscriptions.
Engaging On-demand streaming music apps will increase their revenue while offering advanced features to the music community.
Online music streaming apps must monetize their products effectively, create successful virtual events for future events, and engage and maintain customers effectively to survive an economic downturn.
Some streaming players succeeded in doing this during this crisis; lessons from it may help expand further and contribute significantly towards the music industry expansion in future decades.
Here, We Will Review Some Trends That Could Influence Music Streaming Apps Developed in 2023
1. Virtual Concerts
As AR and VR technology improves, music streaming will become a powerful means for re-engaging fans while increasing revenue potential.
Already, some streaming music services combine similar experiences (Snapchat Lens/TikTok with VR headsets, for example)
2. There Are New Ways of Live Streaming
During COVID-19, people were live streaming via YouTube and Instagram, broadcasting DJ sets, concert performances, and artist debuts - not unlike what customers used to experience with radio stations during an outbreak.
But these virtual performances provided more than temporary relief: They became integral to social life during these turbulent times.
Spotify is one of the premier music streaming services and has recently begun providing live-streaming concerts, virtual concert series, exclusive concert streams, and DJ programs and sets that are only accessible through certain streaming services - offering numerous opportunities.
3. Future Trends of Ar, Vr, and AI
No one knows how AR, VR, and AI technology will impact the music industry or alter our music world in future decades.
However, many social platforms such as Snapchat Lenses, TikToks, and VR Headsets already incorporate music experiences as part of their offerings; music is essential to everyday life!
MelodyVR is the next-gen platform for experiencing live music, built specifically to be used with virtual reality headsets and elevating the live experience.
Users can purchase tickets for their favorite venues and festivals to experience all aspects of the festival atmosphere first-hand.
This offering is groundbreaking in several regards, giving a glimpse of streamings future for music industry players.
Related:- Developing a Music Streaming Mobile App Just Like Spotify is not an Easy Task
4. Fewer Ads, More Paid Subscriptions
Subscribers of subscription-based services continue to increase. Spotify recently revealed that its customer base will surpass 180 million by the 4th quarter of 2021, an increase of 56 million people within two years alone! Music subscription market trends should change as more individuals opt for premium versions.
5. Metaverse: Exploration of Metaverse Space
Metaverse streaming music holds excellent promise. Music industry executives will closely observe live streaming to gauge its efficacy, integration with streaming services, and overall impact on the music landscape as it gains momentum.
Some claims indicate Spotify may enter this new world entirely!
Top 8 Music Streaming Trends
Sergey Bludov, senior vice president for media and entertainment at Digital River, reviews the music streaming trends that will impact music or video streaming services, digital or linear radio stations, labels, libraries, publishers, in-store music providers, or sync agencies in 2023.
Investment analysts continue to be optimistic about the steady growth of the worldwide music-streaming business, which is expected to reach $89.3 billion by 2030.
According to Goldman Sachs Music In The Air research, when comparing the pricing, penetration, attrition, and usage of the two services, music streaming subscriptions are among the last services that customers choose to discontinue during an economic downturn or imminent recession. By these measurements, subscription video-on-demand streaming ought to lose out to music streaming.
Its important to recognize the potential for sizable returns in this booming business when weighing the cost to develop an online music streaming app.
Even if the music streaming market continues to see decreases, subscriber revenues are still falling. In response, music streaming services must diversify their revenue streams beyond subscription-based ones, such as through ad-supported models integration with video games, podcasts, web3 platforms, streaming (expected to become a $33.7 billion market by 2030), substantial social media partnerships (30% of record industry sales by 2021), or any combination of these.
The booming music streaming business may necessitate a big initial expenditure for this diversification technique, but it has the potential to produce significant long-term benefits. To capitalize on its incredible growth potential and survive this turbulent market, music streaming must prepare its data management and integration capabilities accordingly.
Lets review which music streaming trends will extend into 2023 for streaming services, digital radio stations, labels, libraries, publishers, in-store music providers, or sync agencies.
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Audio Programmatic
Subscription music growth declined this year as most US adults, not consumers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 nations, were reluctant to pay for these services.
Freemium and ad-supported models have quickly emerged as industry trends. Privacy regulations send shockwaves through AdTech but provide streaming services with additional incentives to build an advertising business model.
Facebooks dominance can be traced back to its ability to ingest third-party data and serve as a repository of behavioral signals.
In contrast, first-party data gives companies enough insights to create an advertising network with exclusive offers and ads.
Music streaming services that provide targeting in their native environment will take away revenue from other players, but whether this new ad ecosystem embraces programmatic or forms separate walled gardens is yet to be seen.
At present, an open approach prevails: Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, and iHeartRadio sell ads programmatically through independent demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk and in Googles ecosystem through DV360 DV360 360; but once these platforms reach scale with established relationships with agencies that grant direct demand access a "walled garden" solution can emerge; for example YouTube allowed bidding from third parties until 2015 when they realized they needed their closed ad platform and managed media selling themselves.
With tightening privacy regulations, Apple and Google are rapidly losing ground; first-party data owners are scrambling to establish their ad networks.
Music streaming platforms must leverage additional inventory management capabilities with a greater focus on privacy to get maximum benefit from proprietary ad networks.
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Rich Metadata
Musics value within user-generated content (UGC) continues to skyrocket; YouTube alone paid two billion to the music industry for using songs in UGC in 2022 alone! According to MIDiA Research, UGC could generate $6 billion by 2023!
UGC holds excellent potential to monetize music business revenue streams, yet only recently has this revenue source been fully explored and exploited.
Success with this monetization method hinges upon developing effective data exchange mechanisms between music industry players.
Digital data exchange (DDEX), an industry consortium comprising media companies, music licensing organizations, digital music service providers, and technical intermediaries, came together in 2015 to foster interoperability between media.
YouTube and Facebook took steps towards using DDEX integrations within their platforms to standardize Content ID integration into broader ecosystems.
DDEX integrations depend on the metadata quality in music companies; as more employees join, their need for enhanced metadata increases exponentially.
Unfortunately, no consensus standards exist to collect or store metadata effectively. Instead, disparate sources often combine to form disparate datasets, which need standardizing in the future for proper technical maturity of industry technology.
A greater demand for accurate recommendation engines drives advanced metadata management systems and enrichment efforts, opening up multiple opportunities for matchmaking and profiling features.
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Virtual Concerts and Metaverse
With AR and VR technologies becoming mainstream, music streaming services have emerged as an invaluable platform to re-engage audiences and grow revenue potential.
While AR/VR may seem futuristic today, some music streaming services already leverage AR and VR experiences through a Snapchat lens, TikTok, or VR headsets to increase customer engagement and boost revenues.
Meta and TIDAL joined forces for virtual concerts; music streaming platform TIDAL collaborated with Oculus VR to deliver immersive musical performances within virtual reality (VR).
Thanks to advancements in VR technology, reaching the Metaverse is now possible!
Although advertisers and publishers alike are still getting used to metaverse monetization, cutting-edge games like Fortnite create an entire cottage industry of metaverse formats.
Travis Scott hosted his virtual show for 12.3 million concurrent players during Fortnite streaming, which resulted in $20 Million being earned! Radio giant iHeartMedia launched its dedicated space within Fortnite for events and concerts. At the same time, Spotify is represented via the Roblox childrens gaming platform.
Some music streaming services opt to integrate into established metaverse ecosystems.
In contrast, others take advantage of their scale to build virtual worlds independently. Tencent Music recently unveiled its metaverse strategy by debuting TMELAND -- an audio-centric virtual world designed around music -- with a virtual festival hosted on New Years Eve.
What can we expect in the music industry? As more exclusive live streaming of concerts, virtual series, DJ sets, and shows become available via streaming services, there is more opportunity than ever - music streaming providers must embrace creative strategies while seeking innovative tech partnerships for support.
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Web3 and NFTTs
By 2023, the long-awaited Web3 will finally take shape with its widespread implementation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The concept of decentralizing an economy with fair revenue sharing resonated strongly within music streaming industries, where only 13% goes back to artists.
Web3 streaming services feature peer-to-peer infrastructure that will empower independent artists to take control of their art -- and get paid accordingly.
Web3 startups not only promote a new revenue model but can also address ecosystem bottlenecks with solutions like metadata.
Audius provides decentralized storage and ledger for sharing metadata, discovery protocol to efficiently query metadata, governance protocol, and platform access so artists and fans can participate in decision-making while rewarded with Audius tokens or artist coins.
The standard argument against web3 platforms is their inevitability in dethroning legacy ones, yet many aim for something beyond being standalone ecosystems; Emanate allows artists who upload music through Emanate to push audio and data directly to Spotify and Soundcloud services - with all revenue flowing back through Emanate where its transparently tracked and distributed back through Emanate ecosystem.
Startups like Sound. Xyz utilizes NFTs as an efficient method for cataloging and licensing copyright.
NFT marketplaces enable artists to easily create NFTs that feature single songs or entire albums.
We cannot predict how the web3 industry will develop music streaming app; various music streaming disruptors will undoubtedly rise and fall, yet decentralization remains an influential trend throughout this recession; therefore, the music industry must adapt to web3 technologies by engaging proactively.
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Launch of Non-DSP Streaming Services
Music revenues generated through user-generated content provided immense growth potential to the industry; on the flip side, however, their surge drove upstream social media-based streaming platforms without DSP capabilities.
Its critical to take into account the lessons discovered from websites like TikTok if youre planning to develop a live-streaming music app iOS.
TikTok began as a platform for user-generated video and subsequently expanded into music streaming because of its cultural impact. This emphasizes how crucial it is to design a dynamic and engaging user experience, which might be a crucial distinction for your iOS music streaming app.
In a cutthroat industry, incorporating features that promote user-generated content and social interaction can increase the attractiveness of your app.
Any platform with solid appeal among creators will inevitably challenge DSPs dominance; YouTube could overtake Spotify as the music rights industrys primary partner by 2025, for instance.
Contrasting with Spotify, YouTube stands out as having an attractive creator proposition and an efficient mechanism that enables creators to monetize music content through "Shorts." To move up, YouTube plans on tapping into monetization of music rights within Shorts to increase revenues through micro licenses for creators - something other short-form video apps have failed at doing.
In contrast, shorts still lagged behind other short-form video apps. YouTube is pivoting its revenue-share mechanism towards creators with improved revenue-share mechanisms that will increase creator earnings on music content creation from creators using "shorts."
Non-DSP streaming revenue potential quickly surpasses traditional DSPs, leaving traditional DSPs struggling against complex music-video ecosystems containing many resident artists and creators.
Non-DSPs must find ways to compete by developing communities around their artists while offering unique value to their core audience through tools like Audiomack.
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Contextual Recommendation And Playlist Curation Supported By Ai/Ml.
Music streaming services have quickly evolved with the post-album era to meet listeners search for mood playlists.
Geographic boundaries, language, or genre categories still play an integral part in finding new music; however, activity level, time of the week, background setting, or personal mood of listeners become critical considerations in DSP music discovery and consumption.
Streaming and curating mood-specific playlists will increasingly compete with users behaviors, such as listening to soundscapes, generative music, podcasts, or white noise on smart speakers.
This paradigm shift from content-based listening behavior is further supported by meditation and sound apps like Endel that offer personalized soundscapes designed for productivity, mood-boosting, anxiety management, and fitness DSPs with business plans. FPI engaging with Music 2022 report revealed that paid streaming users recognize musics significance to their mental well-being and motivation in motivating their behaviors - an aspect often underestimated by mainstream streaming users themselves!
Endel offers personalized contextualization using users biometric information and AI predictions; DSP playlists tend to be created through editorial team efforts with curators adding personal touches; however, their velocity, value, and variability are enhanced via music search/tagging engines as well as algorithm-based playlists or independent/editorial playlists using algorithms and AI technology - something Deezer offers with its internal recommendation API that generates playlist cover art generating their covers automatically.
Spotify leverages natural language processing and machine learning techniques to analyze lyrics and moods based on users "playlisting" behaviors, providing personalized playlists based on your listening history and moods.
Spotify takes playlist automation further with its recommendation engine and AI, which generate the Discover Weekly, release radar, and home screen recommended Lists features. Furthermore, to strengthen its position further, the company invests and acquires artificial intelligence-related businesses and regularly contributes to events or research on this topic.
NTS Live, a radio station and media platform, takes an approach that prioritizes engagement between listeners and curators in its playlist-creation process.
All NTS playlists are composed by residents who "provide extraordinary music not available anywhere else."
Conversely, playlists have proven an indispensable asset in artist promotion, catalog promotion, new monetization models, fan engagement, and search indexation.
As Spotifys playlist pitching becomes increasingly popular, DIY musicians, artist managers, and labels increasingly turn to search and tagging engines such as Cyanites AI tool for music search and tagging purposes. Cyanite technology can emulate the professional Spotify editorial procedure for analyzing keyword cloud and the tone of each song, offering accurate reviews to fans of Spotify music streaming services.
Cyanite tools, for instance, can identify the emotions evoked by songs, collect the most accurate terms for track description, and, through reverse engineering, identify suitable lists to list based on reverse engineering results. AI now surpasses music curators and tastemakers at optimizing playlists automatically generation, beat matching social media targeting, as sample library search!
Music personalization and contextualization of playlists is a widely practiced feature among major DSPs, whether for controlling engagement and trustworthiness or meeting listeners needs in serendipity or adaptability to listening preferences.
We anticipate DSPs will extend this practice outside their platforms by using native ecosystem touchpoints more extensively for musical playlists and recommendations.
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Lossless Streaming as Industry Standard
Lossless music streaming services have quickly become one of the most sought-after developments, providing DSPs with more opportunities for upselling and cross-selling services like TIDALs three-tier subscription model: an ad-supported free service with way-less-than-lossless tracks, TIDAL HiFi providing lossless CD quality sound; and TIDAL HiFi plus including 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos Music (360 Reality Audio was made optional by Amazon due to competition with Apple and TIDAL; however Amazon decided not to charge extra fees for CD quality tracks from either Apple or TIDAL; competitive pressure from Apple and TIDAL forced Amazon out of charging this extra CD quality fee).
Lossless listening experiences wont be elite as Apple Music continues establishing benchmarks that foster innovation in sound devices and accessories.
Apple announced Spatial Audio to rival TIDAL, Amazon Music HD, and Deezer, who offer CD quality, high-res audio formats, as well as Spacial Audio for an edge against TIDAL, Amazon Music HD, and Deezer their CD quality formats, hi-res audio formats, and spacial audio features.
All these upgrades and features will become prerequisites for new DSP development and building credibility among audiophiles.
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Discover Video-Related Music Now
Lyor Cohen, YouTubes global head of music, notes that the music business is experiencing three crises involving fans search intentions and video discovery.
One issue facing artists today is they spend too much of their energy, creativity, and time crafting content for social networks that has little direct effect on consumer fandom.
A second concern exists among consumers; most arent engaging deeply with artists catalogs, performances, music videos, interviews, and stories due to short-form videos only serving as consumption engines.
Record companies often face prolonged processes when breaking artists. But new opportunities for breaking developing acts may present themselves via fan migration from long-standing social networks, high retention, and engagement of short-form video platforms that promise new ways of breaking through for record companies to exploit.
Music streaming platforms cannot solve all these issues alone. Instead, integrations like YouTube Music and shorts offer customers a smooth informational and navigational journey.
At the same time, artists gain promotional and discovery tools. TikTok has come to recognize this truth by taking steps beyond simply being a consumption engine, with plans underway for its own music streaming service that would rival YouTube Musics unique selling proposition.
Short-form video platforms have rendered playlist strategies less effective due to changing timelines of hit tracks being discovered - new tracks being discovered earlier on TikTok, YouTube shorts, or Instagram Reels than being added editorial playlists; curators are being outdone by user-generated content (UGC).
Early 2023 is Seeing Intense Music Streaming Trends
Music streaming trends are at their height, giving those who stay ahead of developments an advantage in this rapidly evolving industry.
From audio programmatic and enriched metadata streaming through virtual concerts and Web3 to DSP streaming and contextual playlists - adopting these trends can up your game while positioning you well for tomorrow.
The Rise of Metaverse
The metaverse is an emerging concept with massive potential in music streaming services.
As more metaverses appear and gain in popularity, the music industry will watch closely to see how live streaming works within one. Once this concept takes off further than anticipated, it may alter musics landscape in ways we dont yet anticipate; some speculate Spotify might already have entered it.
This could signal something massively groundbreaking for the music industry as we know it today!
Be part of an exciting music industry! Now more than ever is an exciting time for people interested in exploring its various aspects and trends such as streaming services; perhaps now is an opportune moment for careerists in this space to break through and enter it full force.
Maintain a comprehensive knowledge of an ever-evolving industry to be competitive in todays environment.
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Our course topics span across numerous industry areas.
Music streaming services continue to increase their consumer appeal, and new ways for music listeners to access them are being introduced every day, forcing the industry to evolve into something entirely different than before.
If you want to take part and pursue your passion further than ever, our program may be right for you! We invite you to find out for yourself today.
Top Music Streaming Apps
Spotify is one of the worlds most beloved music streaming platforms, with over 350 Million Users and 150 Million Subscribers worldwide.
Apple music - Once considered the premier provider of digital music streaming, Apple Music now trails Spotify overall in user share.
Still, it may have more subscribers in certain regions.
Amazon music - Amazon has steadily built up its user base through Amazon Prime subscribers; 55 million currently subscribe to this service.
YouTube - leads in total usage with two billion active monthly users and ranks third after Spotify and Apple in paid subscribership.
Pandora - Pandora has long been one of the go-to streaming platforms in America for car drivers as an alternative to radio programming.
SoundCloud - independent and undiscovered artists have long used SoundCloud as a streaming platform, yet it has experienced limited commercial success.
Resso - Creator of TikTok and ByteDance, has gained tremendous traction among audiences in Brazil, India, and Indonesia.
Their music service offering ByteDance by Resso is gaining significant traction among listeners.
Tidal - Once known for offering artist music streaming, Tidal is now owned by payment processing firm Square and no longer focused solely on pro artists.
Tencent Music - Tencent has three music streaming applications in China for users to stream songs: KuGou, QQ, and Kuwo, industry leaders for Chinese users streaming their favorite tunes online.
Gaana Music - Indias leading streaming platform boasting more than 185 Million monthly active users.
Conclusion
Music streaming app development is propelling the music business to new heights.
Music streaming applications hold great promise regarding their relatively novel concept of Metaverse; live-streamed performances may offer insights into their operations, integration services available within it, and how more and more metaverses appear and change our musical landscapes in unforeseeable ways. Some think Spotify might have made signs about entering it, which might create something novel within the music business sphere.
Developers.dev, a web, and mobile app development company, suggests working with a company like ours, which offers on-demand music streaming app development services, to determine what tech stack would work best for the changing music streaming industry.
Having a committed and knowledgeable development partner might be crucial to attaining your objectives.
