Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Music Blog 5, Question 2 (March 16th)
Which music streaming service has the most
sustainable business model? And which one do you think is struggling?Limit: 6 responses
Zeinab Dore In the last few decades, music consumption has progressed significantly. The days of having to purchase CDs, vinyl records, or cassette tapes are pretty much not used anymore. Nowadays you can easily sign up for a music streaming service and immediately have access to any type of music that you like in any technological device you have in your hand, whenever you want, wherever you want. For a monthly subscription fee, music streaming services grant you access to millions of tracks. When the pandemic struck our lives, going to live music shows has been restricted. But of course, the music industry still grows by the day because of these streaming services. All services are different in their own way. Some are more successful than others, some are growing fast, and some are struggling a lot. Today’s major music streaming platforms are Spotify and Apple Music who generate between the two of them $7 billion in revenue (Bonifacic). The king of music streaming services is Spotify, with currently 345 million subscribers as of 2020 (Variety). Spotify has a huge range of songs that is compatible with all different devices. Spotify has the possibility to use it without actually having to subscribe. This free a version though includes ads, but it can be used as long as someone wants. There is a premium version that doesn’t include ads that is $10, a duo plan that includes two accounts for $13, and a family plan that can include up to six people for $15. The best plan is the one for students that comes with Hulu and Showtime for $5 a month (Christian & Steven). Spotify has a variety of content that include digital music, podcast, and video streaming that gives you the ability to create your own playlists, gives you recommendations from personalized features, build collections of music, and see what your friends, artists or celebrities listen to. Because of these varieties of plans and content, it attracts new subscribers easily. Spotify has been pretty successful at capturing podcast listening. According to Variety, the podcast consumption hours nearly doubled year-over-year, because of the engagement increase (Spangler). I believe Spotify has a lot of potential to grow and still succeed as it is right now. Because there are already two really big and successful music streaming service, other services definitely struggle to attract new subscribers. I believe, Pandora has been struggling for many years. It is a subscription-based music service that was originally launched as an internet radio service. Then Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services allowed premium users to download songs and play them offline. So Pandora, in 2017, decided to finally launch Pandora Premium where people could access as much music as they want offline. But because of how Spotify and other streaming music services have re-shaped the digital music industry, Pandora’s user growth had declined a lot (Westhoff) because of the lack of innovation and low audio quality (Pendlebury).
Bonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html. Christian de Looper, Steven Cohen. “The Best Music Streaming Services You Can Subscribe to in 2021.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 Jan. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/best-music-streaming-service-subscription#the-best-music-service-overall-1. Spangler, Todd. “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled.” Variety, Variety, 3 Feb. 2021, variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/. Westhoff, Marius. “Pandora Media – from Winner to Loser – and Back?” Digital Innovation and Transformation, 11 Feb. 2020, digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/pandora-media-from-winner-to-loser-and-back/. Pendlebury, Ty. “Spotify, Apple Music and More: What's the Best Music App for You?” CNET, CNET, 6 Sept. 2020, www.cnet.com/how-to/best-music-streaming-service-for-2021-spotify-apple-amazon-and-youtube-music/.
The leaders in music streaming services are Spotify and Apple Music. The revenue between the two is seven $7 billion and only growing from there (Bonifacic). Spotify, in particular, has jumped on opportunities in studio recordings with artists, creating genre-driven playlists, and offering recommendations of songs to user-created playlists. A significant win for Spotify is their investments in podcasts. As of December 2020, "The Joe Rogan Experience" was exclusively on Spotify and Spotify announced January 2021 that they have a multiyear deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to launch shows of the couple (Spangler). As we've seen through Netflix's success, Spotify invests their money back into their content which offers a diverse podcast platform with something for everyone to listen to. Spotify has over 1.9 million titles as of 2020, with the most popular podcast of the year, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of them (Spotify Newsroom). Additional podcasts such as The Daily and The Michelle Obama Podcast were alongside Joe Rogan's podcast in the top five on the list. To keep subscribers at Spotify, Spotify offers subscriptions that can cater to your personal lifestyle. Spotify premium is $9.99 a month without any limits you'd have on Spotify Free (music with advertisements, no limitations on skipping/changing songs, and listening offline). Spotify Family plan costs $14.99 and can include six family members. To prevent any family plan abuse, the six people need to live at the same address. Last, students are offered 50% off Spotify Premium for a year. The student Spotify discount can be renewed for three years only (Free Your Music). Spotify will stay on top as they continue their selfless actions to continue creating a great streaming experience for their users.
SoundCloud was founded just a year after Spotify and offering a different experience for listeners and artists alike. With the SoundCloud platform, it was easier to upload your own music without having to jump through hoops to have your content available for the public. SoundCloud offers access to independent artists instead of commercial songs (Free Your Music). Although SoundCloud has 200 million songs versus Spotify's 70 million, SoundCloud can grant listeners tens of thousands of artists without labels (Free Your Music). SoundCloud's set up on their app is different from that of Spotify and Apple Music by commenting on music and a repost music feature. The downfall from the ability to repost songs is that artists would abuse this feature and repost their own songs. This would then music them to their follower's feeds. Another failure was slingshot packages that artists could purchase to have paid reposts (Deahl). What makes matters worse is that it took almost three years for SoundCloud to address the issue because they were facing other problems. SoundCloud can offer such an excellent opportunity for artists, but it's hard to root them when the company themselves doesn't address and fix issues. This just leads consumers to other platforms in hopes for a better outcome.
Bonifacic, I. (2021, February 26). Streaming music made up 83 percent of the record industry's revenue in 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html Deahl, D., & Newton, C. (2017, July 21). How SoundCloud's broken business MODEL drove artists away. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999172/soundcloud-business-model-future-spotify-streaming Free Your Music. (n.d.). Soundcloud vs Spotify - Comparison - blog. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://freeyourmusic.com/en/blog/soundcloud-vs-spotify-comparison Spangler, T. (2021, February 03). Spotify hits 155 million paid subscribers in Q4, says podcast Listening nearly doubled. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/ Spotify Newsroom. (2020, December 01). The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-01/the-trends-that-shaped-streaming-in-2020/
2020 was a very difficult year for many businesses, but the music industry was able to find success during this hard year. In the article “Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020,” it said that “ According to the Recording Industry Association of America’s annual year-end report, overall recorded music revenue increased by 9.2 percent to $12.2 billion in 2020. That growth was primarily sustained by more money coming from streaming services, with the format generating $10.1 billion in revenue in 2020, up from $8.9 billion in 2019. 2020 marked the fifth consecutive year of growth on that front.”(Bonifacic) The Pandemic gave a lot of people down time which led to people using these platforms a lot more than normal. From that same article it says that “Of the major streaming platforms, Spotify and Apple Music were the biggest contributors, generating $7 billion in revenue between the two of them. At the same time, the average number of US subscriptions increased to 75.5 million, up from 60.4 million in the previous year.”(Bonifacic) This is a result from people not being able to do as much as they normally do during a Pandemic. Spotify is the music streaming service that has the most sustainable business model. They had a strong finish to 2020 albeit with the Pandemic and look to continue to build on that success. According to the article “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled,” it said that “Spotify packed in a strong end to the year roiled by the pandemic, topping forecasts for Premium subscribers to reach 155 million (up 24%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 — adding a record 30 million for the year. The audio streamer’s total users grew 27%, to 345 million in Q4, after netting 74 million in 2020, also a record.”(Spangler) Spotify put more of an emphasis on its podcasts since the growth in its podcasting consumption grew. This is what separates Spotify from the other music streaming services is having podcasts being a component of its platform.
Podcasting has become very popular over the last several years and many people tend to listen to podcasts while they are doing work or simply on their downtime. Apple Music is a streaming service that is struggling. They had to rebrand their platform and don’t offer the personalization of playlist features like their competitors do. Also the simple fact that they had to rebrand their service is another red flag. According to the article “Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations,” it says that “The expansion aims to help differentiate Apple Music from current rivals, like Spotify and Pandora, both known for their personalization efforts with algorithmic-driven playlists tailored to user interests. While Apple Music offers its own, smaller selection of personalized playlists, it also wants to better establish itself in the role of tastemaker and a tool to connect fans with artists. That’s where the streaming radio stations come in.”(Perez) Apple Music is trying to be more unique and not copy what their competitors are doing, but ultimately with the rise in subscriptions for Spotify, it is going to be very hard for Apple to catch up.
Works Cited
Bonifacic, I. "Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020," Engadget 26 Feb. 2021
Perez, Sarah. "Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations." Tech Crunch 18 Aug. 2020,
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety 3 Feb. 2021
I found that Spotify seems to have the most sustainable business model because it has been successful in diversifying its content and becoming a platform for different groups and individuals to share their voices. In contrast, Apple Music seems to be struggling because the company tried to exert too much control over how their service was used and eliminate unfair competition. In the article "The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020," Spotify presents various statistics for the year 2020, including their most-streamed artists globally (top artist was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny with 8.3 billion streams), the most-streamed song of the year (The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” with 1.6 million streams), and the most-streamed album of 2020 (YHLQMDLG, a collaboration between Bad Bunny, Sech, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee, with 3.3 billion streams). These statistics show that Spotify has been successful in promoting a diverse music with international and Black artists taking top spots, which will be helpful in sustaining their business due to the increasing interest in highlighting the work of artists from these groups in the US and abroad. This article also highlighted the wide range of podcasts that were made available on Spotify in 2020 (1.9 million titles currently) and the service’s adaptation to consumer’s changing needs and interests during the pandemic (“The Trends That Shaped Streaming,” 2020). This strategy, especially the addition of popular, exclusive podcasts, appears to be paying off financially. The article "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled," presents an analysis of Spotify's growing numbers and their relationship with the pandemic and content additions. The company exceeded expectations, with a 24% increase in premium subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020 and a record addition of 30 million in the year (Spangler, 2021). They also broke a record with their increase in the total number of subscribers, 74 million in 2020, to reach 345 million (Spangler, 2021). The company attributed this growth to the growing interest in podcasts; “We have increasing conviction in the causal relationship between the growth in podcast consumption driving higher [long-term value] and retention among our user base.” (Spangler, 2021). They will continue their trend of adding new podcasts by well-known figures, following up on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “The Michelle Obama Podcast” with an exclusive, upcoming series featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Spangler, 2021). Looking at other competing audio streaming businesses, I believe that Apple is struggling due to the factors that led to the legal issues discussed in the article “Apple App Store, Apple Pay Targeted in EU Antitrust Probes, Spotify Cheers Moves.'' On June 16, 2020, the EU launched an investigation in Apple Music’s business practices and suspected violations of EU rules about fair business competition (Spangler, 2021). The company is accused of restricting app developers from advertising their own services available for purchase outside of the App Store, causing Spotify and other independent companies to withdraw their apps (Spangler, 2021). This investigation will probably have an effect on the popularity of Apple music in Europe and its reputation. It also implies that they wanted to eliminate competition rather than develop their own audio streaming service through adding content and appealing to consumers. Spotify has a stronger, more sustainable business model because it is consumer-centric and focusing on increasing its offerings to fit cultural trends.
"The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020." Spotify Newsroom. 1 Dec. 2021, https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-01/THE-TRENDS-THAT-SHAPED-STREAMING-IN-2020/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety. 3 Feb. 2021, https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Spangler, Todd. “Apple App Store, Apple Pay Targeted in EU Antitrust Probes, Spotify Cheers Moves” Variety. 16 Jun. 2020. https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/apple-app-store-eu-antitrust-probes-spotify-1234636728/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Nowadays we consume music primarily through streaming. The days of going to the record store and buying albums and CD’s are not a thing. In my life I saw the change from my father going to the CD store every week to now everyone using streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music. Even programs like iTunes where you bought single songs aren’t a thing anymore. Just like TV and movies, the music industry is now dominated by streaming.
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to grow streaming services tremendously. Despite the pandemic, music streaming had a great year. Overall recorded music revenue increased by $12.2 billion in 2020, with streaming services being the primary reason, with these services pulling in $10.1 billion in revenue in 2020. Also, the amount of Americans that subscribed to music streaming services increased by 15.1 million in 2020.(Bonifacic). The two largest music streaming services, Apple Music and Spotifiy brought in a combined $7 billion. It is obvious that music streaming is the future of accessing music. The pandemic has spurred huge growth in users and revenue of streaming platforms.
One of the platforms performing the best is Spotify. In 2020 Spotify had one of their best years ever adding 30 million new users to their platform. One of the big reasons for Spotify's success they say is their podcasts. Spotify has over 2.2 million podcasts on their platform, and 25% of their users view this podcast content(Spangler). Spotify was even able to spark a deal with Joe Rogan to have his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on Spotify. This has become their best performing podcast. Despite the controversy behind him it was a great move for Spotify. I think that Spotify is the best performing and will have the most sustainable business model. Spotify tries to add a social aspect to their streaming that Apple Music does not, and they have built a big focus on podcasts, something that Apple Music hasn’t.
Spotify has many user created playlists, and has many ways to share your music with friends, or just throw on a radio station of the songs you like. But Apple Music just doesn’t feel social as Spotify does. Apple released their Apple Music Radio for this purpose. To try to cater to that crowd who wants to just throw on casual music. A feature that Spotify just presents better. When it comes to podcasts, Apple Podcasts and iTunes used to be the standard but thanks to Spotify's massive efforts and investments into podcasts, Apple needs to evolve to compete. “The technology giant has begun acquiring two types of original podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter: One category is audio spinoffs of existing movies and programs, and the other is original programs that could eventually be adapted into future TV+ video content”(Quah). Apple has attempted to compete with Spotify, but is not fully focusing on getting podcasts on their platform. They are working with what they already have and trying to expand other parts of their business. The difference being Spotify turned it into one their main selling points and Apple hasn't.
I have used Apple Music my whole life, i've never had an issue with it, but I have thought about switching. The difference is that all my friends who use Spotify swear by it and say they will never use Apple Music and will never switch. Spotify has managed to attract a massive audience and make them very loyal to their brand, and on top of that have features that make people love their platform even more. The Spotify year end wrap up is a really cool feature that gets great publicity for the app, people post theirs all over social media. And the podcast focus has helped them take off. Apple Music will never fail. It will always have millions of users, but Spotify has tapped into that social, fun market and created loyal fans and a great sustainable, continuing to grow business model that Apple Music can’t seem to figure out. The only special thing that I noticed with Apple Music this year was them changing their layout which just made me more angry with Apple Music. Maybe it's time for a switch.
Bonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html. Quah@nwquah, Nicholas. “Does Apple Finally Have a Plan for Podcasts?” Vulture, 18 June 2020, www.vulture.com/2020/06/apple-podcast-strategy-spotify-zane-lowe.html. Spangler, Todd. “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled.” Variety, Variety, 3 Feb. 2021, variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/.
Streaming music with ease has become a normality in our society today. Smartphones have evolved in a way that has allowed easier access to almost any content we want to engage with. Some companies have been able to innovate and find new ways of offering music to its consumers, as well as building loyal users who usually have a preference of what service they would want to use. For example, Apple has figured out a lucrative and engaging experience for its music streamers through their “Apple Music” platform. The service allows for browsing, radio, personalized playlists, and a number of other features that are interesting for users. With Apple being a longstanding distributor of technology, it has a following and a stigma around it that anything the company does is what the future beholds. Therefore, moving towards a stream based platform was very successful for the company, as its huge following trusted the company. Apple music, along with Spotify, has reshaped the industry with this type of innovation. Between the two, their average number of subscriptions rose 15 million, totaling an average of 75.5 million. In addition, they both helped generate 7 billion in profit for the industry. The two giants have a difference in how their apps operate, but the accessibility they offer is comparable.
One company that caught my attention as well was SoundCloud. SoundCloud for all my life has been the place to listen to good music for free, sometimes even main stream. Although they offer a subscription to a premium service, to me it would make sense that their version of an ad free, premium music service would be harder to market and be successful because most SoundCloud users came to the platform for the free, underground nature of the app. Adding to that, I think their current model is and can be successful, but it’s not what they’re built on and paid users would rather go to official sites like Apple Music and Spotify that are known for official music for a price. Same with artists; SoundCloud has struggled to provide compensation for artists having their music on the platform in comparison to how the two giants of streaming music do. Therefore, unless SoundCloud is content with staying the same as a company and now growing, their current model is not sustainable. Recently, a rumored new way for users to pay their favorite musicians directly is a business model that SoundCloud may dive into. (SoundCloud) Normally artists are payed based on stream, and with such a huge industry this puts smaller streamers at a disadvantage for compensation. This new business model is an innovative one, but has some merit to back it up. For example, the video streaming company known “Twitch” allows people to stream themselves doing whatever for viewers who have the ability to directly pay a streamer for their content, or to support their channel. This the average/smaller streamer the ability to make some money regardless of less traffic to their channel. Thus, this new business model is comparable to an already successful method of consumer interaction with creators, and I think would make SoundCloud the go to spot for personally connecting with artists. This would be a good identify to build because Apple Music and Spotify are dominating the traditional streaming industry for music, and SoundCloud could benefit from making it their own.
Bonifacic, Igor. “SoundCloud May Let Fans Support Artists Directly.” Engadget, 5 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/soundcloud-direct-payment-report-220258764.html. Bonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html.
Deahl, Dani, and Casey Newton. “How SoundCloud's Broken Business Model Drove Artists Away.” The Verge, The Verge, 21 July 2017, www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999172/soundcloud-business-model-future-spotify-streaming.
How I see it as a consumer, Spotify has the most sustainable business model. It is not unique but at a time it was and as it grew in popularity it became the most used music streaming service by both artists and users. Is it any more appealing to me than other music streaming services, not really but it has been my main source of music for over 7 years now so switching hasn’t really been on my mind at all. Now put us in the year 2020, the pandemic is at large and most people are staying inside during their day to day lives. I started listening to music even more than I already did, and that’s when the minor differences between music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple music become noticeable. Although both of these streaming services did seem to flourish in 2020, “Spotify and Apple Music were the biggest contributors, generating $7 billion in revenue between the two of them. At the same time, the average number of US subscriptions increased to 75.5 million, up from 60.4 million in the previous year. When you put all those numbers together, streaming accounted for 83 percent of the industry’s total revenue.” (Bonifacic 2). Clearly the differences between the two services are not that different if both are pioneering the music industry at the moment. I believe this in part is due to the rebranding and new feature being added to apple music, “More broadly, the idea behind streaming radio is to cater to people who, sometimes, just want to turn on music without having to think about what they want to hear or dig around for a favorite playlist. That was the original promise of terrestrial radio, and Apple believes the formula can still work on modern-day streaming services, as well. (Perez 4). I see this change in itself as another step towards the Spotify business model. While it is still slightly different its very similar to the auto generated playlists, Spotify provides based on your listening and the radio option already available based on certain artists or songs. I believe this sort of copycat strategy is the reason Spotify has the most sustainable/successful business model. Over the years many music streaming services have come and gone with out much notice at all. As Spotify rose to power, we saw brands such as Pandora, Google Play Music, and SoundCloud start to conform to their business model as soon as Spotify flew by them. This can be seen in both pricing and features in some of these services as their new model is almost completely unrecognizable from what it was back in early 2012-2013. All 3 of the ones named are also perfect examples of struggling brands as well. Simply due to the fact that they took too long to conform to the same strategy as Spotify. Now when you compare Apple music and Spotify the differences come down to the music library on both platforms as pretty much everything else is very similar. Based on Spotify’s recent success, “Spotify packed in a strong end to the year roiled by the pandemic, topping forecasts for Premium subscribers to reach 155 million (up 24%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 — adding a record 30 million for the year. The audio streamer’s total users grew 27%, to 345 million in Q4, after netting 74 million in 2020, also a record” (Spangler 1), is there any reason not to try and follow their lead?
Works Cited
Bonifacic, I. "Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020," Engadget 26 Feb. 2021,
Perez, Sarah. "Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations." Tech Crunch 18 Aug. 2020,
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety 3 Feb. 2021,
Zeinab Dore
ReplyDeleteIn the last few decades, music consumption has progressed significantly. The days of having to purchase CDs, vinyl records, or cassette tapes are pretty much not used anymore. Nowadays you can easily sign up for a music streaming service and immediately have access to any type of music that you like in any technological device you have in your hand, whenever you want, wherever you want. For a monthly subscription fee, music streaming services grant you access to millions of tracks.
When the pandemic struck our lives, going to live music shows has been restricted. But of course, the music industry still grows by the day because of these streaming services. All services are different in their own way. Some are more successful than others, some are growing fast, and some are struggling a lot. Today’s major music streaming platforms are Spotify and Apple Music who generate between the two of them $7 billion in revenue (Bonifacic).
The king of music streaming services is Spotify, with currently 345 million subscribers as of 2020 (Variety). Spotify has a huge range of songs that is compatible with all different devices. Spotify has the possibility to use it without actually having to subscribe. This free a version though includes ads, but it can be used as long as someone wants. There is a premium version that doesn’t include ads that is $10, a duo plan that includes two accounts for $13, and a family plan that can include up to six people for $15. The best plan is the one for students that comes with Hulu and Showtime for $5 a month (Christian & Steven). Spotify has a variety of content that include digital music, podcast, and video streaming that gives you the ability to create your own playlists, gives you recommendations from personalized features, build collections of music, and see what your friends, artists or celebrities listen to. Because of these varieties of plans and content, it attracts new subscribers easily. Spotify has been pretty successful at capturing podcast listening. According to Variety, the podcast consumption hours nearly doubled year-over-year, because of the engagement increase (Spangler). I believe Spotify has a lot of potential to grow and still succeed as it is right now.
Because there are already two really big and successful music streaming service, other services definitely struggle to attract new subscribers. I believe, Pandora has been struggling for many years. It is a subscription-based music service that was originally launched as an internet radio service. Then Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services allowed premium users to download songs and play them offline. So Pandora, in 2017, decided to finally launch Pandora Premium where people could access as much music as they want offline. But because of how Spotify and other streaming music services have re-shaped the digital music industry, Pandora’s user growth had declined a lot (Westhoff) because of the lack of innovation and low audio quality (Pendlebury).
Bonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html.
DeleteChristian de Looper, Steven Cohen. “The Best Music Streaming Services You Can Subscribe to in 2021.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 Jan. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/best-music-streaming-service-subscription#the-best-music-service-overall-1.
Spangler, Todd. “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled.” Variety, Variety, 3 Feb. 2021, variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/.
Westhoff, Marius. “Pandora Media – from Winner to Loser – and Back?” Digital Innovation and Transformation, 11 Feb. 2020, digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/pandora-media-from-winner-to-loser-and-back/.
Pendlebury, Ty. “Spotify, Apple Music and More: What's the Best Music App for You?” CNET, CNET, 6 Sept. 2020, www.cnet.com/how-to/best-music-streaming-service-for-2021-spotify-apple-amazon-and-youtube-music/.
The leaders in music streaming services are Spotify and Apple Music. The revenue between the two is seven $7 billion and only growing from there (Bonifacic). Spotify, in particular, has jumped on opportunities in studio recordings with artists, creating genre-driven playlists, and offering recommendations of songs to user-created playlists. A significant win for Spotify is their investments in podcasts. As of December 2020, "The Joe Rogan Experience" was exclusively on Spotify and Spotify announced January 2021 that they have a multiyear deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to launch shows of the couple (Spangler). As we've seen through Netflix's success, Spotify invests their money back into their content which offers a diverse podcast platform with something for everyone to listen to. Spotify has over 1.9 million titles as of 2020, with the most popular podcast of the year, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of them (Spotify Newsroom). Additional podcasts such as The Daily and The Michelle Obama Podcast were alongside Joe Rogan's podcast in the top five on the list. To keep subscribers at Spotify, Spotify offers subscriptions that can cater to your personal lifestyle. Spotify premium is $9.99 a month without any limits you'd have on Spotify Free (music with advertisements, no limitations on skipping/changing songs, and listening offline). Spotify Family plan costs $14.99 and can include six family members. To prevent any family plan abuse, the six people need to live at the same address. Last, students are offered 50% off Spotify Premium for a year. The student Spotify discount can be renewed for three years only (Free Your Music). Spotify will stay on top as they continue their selfless actions to continue creating a great streaming experience for their users.
ReplyDeleteSoundCloud was founded just a year after Spotify and offering a different experience for listeners and artists alike. With the SoundCloud platform, it was easier to upload your own music without having to jump through hoops to have your content available for the public. SoundCloud offers access to independent artists instead of commercial songs (Free Your Music). Although SoundCloud has 200 million songs versus Spotify's 70 million, SoundCloud can grant listeners tens of thousands of artists without labels (Free Your Music). SoundCloud's set up on their app is different from that of Spotify and Apple Music by commenting on music and a repost music feature. The downfall from the ability to repost songs is that artists would abuse this feature and repost their own songs. This would then music them to their follower's feeds. Another failure was slingshot packages that artists could purchase to have paid reposts (Deahl). What makes matters worse is that it took almost three years for SoundCloud to address the issue because they were facing other problems. SoundCloud can offer such an excellent opportunity for artists, but it's hard to root them when the company themselves doesn't address and fix issues. This just leads consumers to other platforms in hopes for a better outcome.
Works Cited
DeleteBonifacic, I. (2021, February 26). Streaming music made up 83 percent of the record industry's revenue in 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html
Deahl, D., & Newton, C. (2017, July 21). How SoundCloud's broken business MODEL drove artists away. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999172/soundcloud-business-model-future-spotify-streaming
Free Your Music. (n.d.). Soundcloud vs Spotify - Comparison - blog. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://freeyourmusic.com/en/blog/soundcloud-vs-spotify-comparison
Spangler, T. (2021, February 03). Spotify hits 155 million paid subscribers in Q4, says podcast Listening nearly doubled. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/
Spotify Newsroom. (2020, December 01). The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-01/the-trends-that-shaped-streaming-in-2020/
Kenneth Gruenfelder
ReplyDelete2020 was a very difficult year for many businesses, but the music industry was able to find success during this hard year. In the article “Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020,” it said that “ According to the Recording Industry Association of America’s annual year-end report, overall recorded music revenue increased by 9.2 percent to $12.2 billion in 2020. That growth was primarily sustained by more money coming from streaming services, with the format generating $10.1 billion in revenue in 2020, up from $8.9 billion in 2019. 2020 marked the fifth consecutive year of growth on that front.”(Bonifacic) The Pandemic gave a lot of people down time which led to people using these platforms a lot more than normal. From that same article it says that “Of the major streaming platforms, Spotify and Apple Music were the biggest contributors, generating $7 billion in revenue between the two of them. At the same time, the average number of US subscriptions increased to 75.5 million, up from 60.4 million in the previous year.”(Bonifacic) This is a result from people not being able to do as much as they normally do during a Pandemic. Spotify is the music streaming service that has the most sustainable business model. They had a strong finish to 2020 albeit with the Pandemic and look to continue to build on that success. According to the article “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled,” it said that “Spotify packed in a strong end to the year roiled by the pandemic, topping forecasts for Premium subscribers to reach 155 million (up 24%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 — adding a record 30 million for the year. The audio streamer’s total users grew 27%, to 345 million in Q4, after netting 74 million in 2020, also a record.”(Spangler) Spotify put more of an emphasis on its podcasts since the growth in its podcasting consumption grew. This is what separates Spotify from the other music streaming services is having podcasts being a component of its platform.
Podcasting has become very popular over the last several years and many people tend to listen to podcasts while they are doing work or simply on their downtime. Apple Music is a streaming service that is struggling. They had to rebrand their platform and don’t offer the personalization of playlist features like their competitors do. Also the simple fact that they had to rebrand their service is another red flag. According to the article “Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations,” it says that “The expansion aims to help differentiate Apple Music from current rivals, like Spotify and Pandora, both known for their personalization efforts with algorithmic-driven playlists tailored to user interests. While Apple Music offers its own, smaller selection of personalized playlists, it also wants to better establish itself in the role of tastemaker and a tool to connect fans with artists. That’s where the streaming radio stations come in.”(Perez) Apple Music is trying to be more unique and not copy what their competitors are doing, but ultimately with the rise in subscriptions for Spotify, it is going to be very hard for Apple to catch up.
DeleteWorks Cited
Bonifacic, I. "Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020," Engadget 26 Feb. 2021
Perez, Sarah. "Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations." Tech Crunch 18 Aug. 2020,
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety 3 Feb. 2021
Gabriela Alvares
ReplyDeleteMusic blog 5
I found that Spotify seems to have the most sustainable business model because it has been successful in diversifying its content and becoming a platform for different groups and individuals to share their voices. In contrast, Apple Music seems to be struggling because the company tried to exert too much control over how their service was used and eliminate unfair competition.
In the article "The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020," Spotify presents various statistics for the year 2020, including their most-streamed artists globally (top artist was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny with 8.3 billion streams), the most-streamed song of the year (The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” with 1.6 million streams), and the most-streamed album of 2020 (YHLQMDLG, a collaboration between Bad Bunny, Sech, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee, with 3.3 billion streams). These statistics show that Spotify has been successful in promoting a diverse music with international and Black artists taking top spots, which will be helpful in sustaining their business due to the increasing interest in highlighting the work of artists from these groups in the US and abroad. This article also highlighted the wide range of podcasts that were made available on Spotify in 2020 (1.9 million titles currently) and the service’s adaptation to consumer’s changing needs and interests during the pandemic (“The Trends That Shaped Streaming,” 2020).
This strategy, especially the addition of popular, exclusive podcasts, appears to be paying off financially. The article "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled," presents an analysis of Spotify's growing numbers and their relationship with the pandemic and content additions. The company exceeded expectations, with a 24% increase in premium subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020 and a record addition of 30 million in the year (Spangler, 2021). They also broke a record with their increase in the total number of subscribers, 74 million in 2020, to reach 345 million (Spangler, 2021). The company attributed this growth to the growing interest in podcasts; “We have increasing conviction in the causal relationship between the growth in podcast consumption driving higher [long-term value] and retention among our user base.” (Spangler, 2021). They will continue their trend of adding new podcasts by well-known figures, following up on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “The Michelle Obama Podcast” with an exclusive, upcoming series featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Spangler, 2021).
Looking at other competing audio streaming businesses, I believe that Apple is struggling due to the factors that led to the legal issues discussed in the article “Apple App Store, Apple Pay Targeted in EU Antitrust Probes, Spotify Cheers Moves.'' On June 16, 2020, the EU launched an investigation in Apple Music’s business practices and suspected violations of EU rules about fair business competition (Spangler, 2021). The company is accused of restricting app developers from advertising their own services available for purchase outside of the App Store, causing Spotify and other independent companies to withdraw their apps (Spangler, 2021). This investigation will probably have an effect on the popularity of Apple music in Europe and its reputation. It also implies that they wanted to eliminate competition rather than develop their own audio streaming service through adding content and appealing to consumers. Spotify has a stronger, more sustainable business model because it is consumer-centric and focusing on increasing its offerings to fit cultural trends.
Gabriela Alvares
DeleteMusic blog 5
Works cited
"The Trends That Shaped Streaming in 2020." Spotify Newsroom. 1 Dec. 2021,
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-01/THE-TRENDS-THAT-SHAPED-STREAMING-IN-2020/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety. 3 Feb. 2021, https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Spangler, Todd. “Apple App Store, Apple Pay Targeted in EU Antitrust Probes, Spotify Cheers Moves” Variety. 16 Jun. 2020. https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/apple-app-store-eu-antitrust-probes-spotify-1234636728/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2021.
Nowadays we consume music primarily through streaming. The days of going to the record store and buying albums and CD’s are not a thing. In my life I saw the change from my father going to the CD store every week to now everyone using streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music. Even programs like iTunes where you bought single songs aren’t a thing anymore. Just like TV and movies, the music industry is now dominated by streaming.
ReplyDeleteThe COVID-19 pandemic has helped to grow streaming services tremendously. Despite the pandemic, music streaming had a great year. Overall recorded music revenue increased by $12.2 billion in 2020, with streaming services being the primary reason, with these services pulling in $10.1 billion in revenue in 2020. Also, the amount of Americans that subscribed to music streaming services increased by 15.1 million in 2020.(Bonifacic). The two largest music streaming services, Apple Music and Spotifiy brought in a combined $7 billion. It is obvious that music streaming is the future of accessing music. The pandemic has spurred huge growth in users and revenue of streaming platforms.
One of the platforms performing the best is Spotify. In 2020 Spotify had one of their best years ever adding 30 million new users to their platform. One of the big reasons for Spotify's success they say is their podcasts. Spotify has over 2.2 million podcasts on their platform, and 25% of their users view this podcast content(Spangler). Spotify was even able to spark a deal with Joe Rogan to have his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on Spotify. This has become their best performing podcast. Despite the controversy behind him it was a great move for Spotify. I think that Spotify is the best performing and will have the most sustainable business model. Spotify tries to add a social aspect to their streaming that Apple Music does not, and they have built a big focus on podcasts, something that Apple Music hasn’t.
Spotify has many user created playlists, and has many ways to share your music with friends, or just throw on a radio station of the songs you like. But Apple Music just doesn’t feel social as Spotify does. Apple released their Apple Music Radio for this purpose. To try to cater to that crowd who wants to just throw on casual music. A feature that Spotify just presents better. When it comes to podcasts, Apple Podcasts and iTunes used to be the standard but thanks to Spotify's massive efforts and investments into podcasts, Apple needs to evolve to compete. “The technology giant has begun acquiring two types of original podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter: One category is audio spinoffs of existing movies and programs, and the other is original programs that could eventually be adapted into future TV+ video content”(Quah). Apple has attempted to compete with Spotify, but is not fully focusing on getting podcasts on their platform. They are working with what they already have and trying to expand other parts of their business. The difference being Spotify turned it into one their main selling points and Apple hasn't.
I have used Apple Music my whole life, i've never had an issue with it, but I have thought about switching. The difference is that all my friends who use Spotify swear by it and say they will never use Apple Music and will never switch. Spotify has managed to attract a massive audience and make them very loyal to their brand, and on top of that have features that make people love their platform even more. The Spotify year end wrap up is a really cool feature that gets great publicity for the app, people post theirs all over social media. And the podcast focus has helped them take off. Apple Music will never fail. It will always have millions of users, but Spotify has tapped into that social, fun market and created loyal fans and a great sustainable, continuing to grow business model that Apple Music can’t seem to figure out. The only special thing that I noticed with Apple Music this year was them changing their layout which just made me more angry with Apple Music. Maybe it's time for a switch.
ReplyDeleteBonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html.
Quah@nwquah, Nicholas. “Does Apple Finally Have a Plan for Podcasts?” Vulture, 18 June 2020, www.vulture.com/2020/06/apple-podcast-strategy-spotify-zane-lowe.html.
Spangler, Todd. “Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled.” Variety, Variety, 3 Feb. 2021, variety.com/2021/digital/news/spotify-q4-2020-results-podcast-1234899086/.
Streaming music with ease has become a normality in our society today. Smartphones have evolved in a way that has allowed easier access to almost any content we want to engage with. Some companies have been able to innovate and find new ways of offering music to its consumers, as well as building loyal users who usually have a preference of what service they would want to use. For example, Apple has figured out a lucrative and engaging experience for its music streamers through their “Apple Music” platform. The service allows for browsing, radio, personalized playlists, and a number of other features that are interesting for users. With Apple being a longstanding distributor of technology, it has a following and a stigma around it that anything the company does is what the future beholds. Therefore, moving towards a stream based platform was very successful for the company, as its huge following trusted the company. Apple music, along with Spotify, has reshaped the industry with this type of innovation. Between the two, their average number of subscriptions rose 15 million, totaling an average of 75.5 million. In addition, they both helped generate 7 billion in profit for the industry. The two giants have a difference in how their apps operate, but the accessibility they offer is comparable.
ReplyDeleteOne company that caught my attention as well was SoundCloud. SoundCloud for all my life has been the place to listen to good music for free, sometimes even main stream. Although they offer a subscription to a premium service, to me it would make sense that their version of an ad free, premium music service would be harder to market and be successful because most SoundCloud users came to the platform for the free, underground nature of the app. Adding to that, I think their current model is and can be successful, but it’s not what they’re built on and paid users would rather go to official sites like Apple Music and Spotify that are known for official music for a price. Same with artists; SoundCloud has struggled to provide compensation for artists having their music on the platform in comparison to how the two giants of streaming music do. Therefore, unless SoundCloud is content with staying the same as a company and now growing, their current model is not sustainable. Recently, a rumored new way for users to pay their favorite musicians directly is a business model that SoundCloud may dive into. (SoundCloud) Normally artists are payed based on stream, and with such a huge industry this puts smaller streamers at a disadvantage for compensation. This new business model is an innovative one, but has some merit to back it up. For example, the video streaming company known “Twitch” allows people to stream themselves doing whatever for viewers who have the ability to directly pay a streamer for their content, or to support their channel. This the average/smaller streamer the ability to make some money regardless of less traffic to their channel. Thus, this new business model is comparable to an already successful method of consumer interaction with creators, and I think would make SoundCloud the go to spot for personally connecting with artists. This would be a good identify to build because Apple Music and Spotify are dominating the traditional streaming industry for music, and SoundCloud could benefit from making it their own.
Bonifacic, Igor. “SoundCloud May Let Fans Support Artists Directly.” Engadget, 5 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/soundcloud-direct-payment-report-220258764.html.
ReplyDeleteBonifacic, Igor. “Streaming Music Made up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue in 2020.” Engadget, 26 Feb. 2021, www.engadget.com/riaa-music-revenue-report-2020-204907874.html.
Deahl, Dani, and Casey Newton. “How SoundCloud's Broken Business Model Drove Artists Away.” The Verge, The Verge, 21 July 2017, www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999172/soundcloud-business-model-future-spotify-streaming.
Matthew Taylor
ReplyDeleteMedia Trends Blog 5
How I see it as a consumer, Spotify has the most sustainable business model. It is not unique but at a time it was and as it grew in popularity it became the most used music streaming service by both artists and users. Is it any more appealing to me than other music streaming services, not really but it has been my main source of music for over 7 years now so switching hasn’t really been on my mind at all. Now put us in the year 2020, the pandemic is at large and most people are staying inside during their day to day lives. I started listening to music even more than I already did, and that’s when the minor differences between music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple music become noticeable. Although both of these streaming services did seem to flourish in 2020, “Spotify and Apple Music were the biggest contributors, generating $7 billion in revenue between the two of them. At the same time, the average number of US subscriptions increased to 75.5 million, up from 60.4 million in the previous year. When you put all those numbers together, streaming accounted for 83 percent of the industry’s total revenue.” (Bonifacic 2). Clearly the differences between the two services are not that different if both are pioneering the music industry at the moment. I believe this in part is due to the rebranding and new feature being added to apple music, “More broadly, the idea behind streaming radio is to cater to people who, sometimes, just want to turn on music without having to think about what they want to hear or dig around for a favorite playlist. That was the original promise of terrestrial radio, and Apple believes the formula can still work on modern-day streaming services, as well. (Perez 4). I see this change in itself as another step towards the Spotify business model. While it is still slightly different its very similar to the auto generated playlists, Spotify provides based on your listening and the radio option already available based on certain artists or songs. I believe this sort of copycat strategy is the reason Spotify has the most sustainable/successful business model. Over the years many music streaming services have come and gone with out much notice at all. As Spotify rose to power, we saw brands such as Pandora, Google Play Music, and SoundCloud start to conform to their business model as soon as Spotify flew by them. This can be seen in both pricing and features in some of these services as their new model is almost completely unrecognizable from what it was back in early 2012-2013. All 3 of the ones named are also perfect examples of struggling brands as well. Simply due to the fact that they took too long to conform to the same strategy as Spotify. Now when you compare Apple music and Spotify the differences come down to the music library on both platforms as pretty much everything else is very similar. Based on Spotify’s recent success, “Spotify packed in a strong end to the year roiled by the pandemic, topping forecasts for Premium subscribers to reach 155 million (up 24%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 — adding a record 30 million for the year. The audio streamer’s total users grew 27%, to 345 million in Q4, after netting 74 million in 2020, also a record” (Spangler 1), is there any reason not to try and follow their lead?
Works Cited
Bonifacic, I. "Streaming Music Made Up 83 Percent of the Record Industry's Revenue In 2020," Engadget 26 Feb. 2021,
Perez, Sarah. "Apple Launches Apple Music Radio with a Rebranded Beats 1, Plus Two More Stations." Tech Crunch 18 Aug. 2020,
Spangler, Todd. "Spotify Hits 155 Million Paid Subscribers in Q4, Says Podcast Listening Nearly Doubled." Variety 3 Feb. 2021,