{"id":99260,"date":"2024-09-06T12:07:08","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/09\/06\/musics-vibecession-why-is-no-one-cheering-record-growth\/"},"modified":"2024-09-06T12:07:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:07:08","slug":"musics-vibecession-why-is-no-one-cheering-record-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/09\/06\/musics-vibecession-why-is-no-one-cheering-record-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Music\u2019s \u2018Vibecession\u2019: Why Is No One Cheering Record\u00a0Growth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tBy some measures, the recorded music business has never been better. U.S. sales grew 8% in 2023<\/a> to hit a record high $17.1 billion; streaming continues to grow around the world; and revenue and operating income are rising at the three major labels and many smaller companies as well. The subscription streaming model is appealingly predictable, and the explosion of other forms of online media, from video games to virtual exercise programs, is creating plenty of opportunities for growth.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Recorded Music Revenue Up 8% in 2023 as Streaming Growth Remains Steady:\u00a0RIAA\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tBy other measures, the industry is in a tough spot. The flood of new music pouring into streaming services \u2014 both legitimate and not<\/a> \u2014 is diluting the royalty pool for professional musicians. (This, and some other things, might be good for some players, but it seems to be bad for the business.) Although comparisons are complicated, it seems harder than ever to break new acts<\/a>. Underneath all of this is the part of the iceberg most people don\u2019t see: The deals labels sign with acts are generally less advantageous, because artists have more leverage than ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe numbers say it\u2019s the best of times. Layoffs at Universal Music Group<\/a> and Warner Music Group<\/a> say otherwise. And although the recorded music business isn\u2019t in any real danger \u2014 the only question is how fast it\u2019s going to grow \u2014 it\u2019s hard to escape the idea that something just feels off.<\/p>\n

\n\tWelcome to the music business version of the \u201cvibecession\u201d that\u2019s affecting the U.S. economy as a whole. The term, coined in June 2022 by the financial analyst Kyla Scanlon<\/strong>, describes the apparent disconnect between positive economic indicators and negative public perceptions. In layman\u2019s terms, if the numbers look so good, why do things feel so bad?<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside the music business, most of the economic news is good, or at least good-ish by the standards of the dismal science. Inflation is down and the economy seems to be growing again. The problem, in industry terms, is that people just aren\u2019t feeling it<\/em>. One example: Job loss concerns are high at a time when the level of layoffs is low, according to Marketplace<\/a>. The article compares the current situation to a doctor talking to a healthy patient who thinks he\u2019s sick. There are explanations for this: Perhaps our minds are still adjusting to higher prices, which continue to rise even as the rate<\/em> of inflation declines, or maybe troubling political news just makes more of an impression than economic indicators.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis could be more than a feeling, as a Boston<\/a> economist might say, since people and companies that believe the economy will decline might cut back their spending and, inadvertently, contribute to making it happen. Although the music business is much harder to measure, the same thing could happen there. The pessimism that has already led to layoffs and restructuring means there will be fewer A&R executives signing fewer acts and then spending less money on marketing and promotion. That might be necessary. But it\u2019s unlikely to help.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNorth Carolina Musician Accused of $10M Streaming Fraud With AI-Generated\u00a0Songs\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tWhat\u2019s killing the vibe in music? Partly, expectations have changed. The hypergrowth phase of streaming is ending, but big music companies, especially UMG and WMG, are under some pressure to grow faster than the overall business. Subscription streaming is going from the savior of the music business to another new format that boosts some kinds of music at the expense of others. There aren\u2019t many new stars \u2014 one of the big hip-hop stories this year was the feud between Drake<\/a> and Kendrick Lamar<\/a>. (This is both the winter of our discontent and the season of diss content.) And new albums by established stars like Ariana Grande<\/a> and Dua Lipa<\/a> are off to a slow start (although it\u2019s hard to know what that means in a streaming-driven business).<\/p>\n

\n\tThere may also be a sense, both in the music business and in the economy as a whole, that the foundation is not as solid as it seems. There\u2019s more talk of quick fixes, both in the overall economy (Blockchain!<\/a>) and in the music business (NFTs!<\/a>). But there\u2019s not much effort to get at the heart of the problems: The economy seems increasingly rigged toward finance and the pro-rata royalty distribution of streaming services prizes viral sensations in a way that may make it hard for different kinds of artists to build careers.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the meantime, the numbers keep going up. The stock market has skyrocketed, undeterred by COVID, inflation and conflict in the Middle East \u2014 but that can\u2019t last forever. The recorded music business keeps growing, too<\/a>, and it will almost certainly continue to do so \u2014 just perhaps not in the ways we have come to expect. Over the past few years, labels have spent fortunes signing viral superstars who win big \u2014 but how many of them will be around in a decade? Meanwhile, popular tastes are harder than ever to predict. Two years ago, when it seemed like the future belonged to hip-hop, could anyone have predicted such a big country comeback<\/a>? Giving people what they want is a fine strategy \u2014 but only if they keep wanting it.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a good time to toast the good times \u2014 but it\u2019s tempting to ask for a strong drink, too. Both the music industry and the broader economy keep climbing over problems to reach new peaks. And they\u2019re great places to be \u2014 until you realize that it\u2019s all downhill from there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By some measures, the recorded music business has never been better. U.S. sales grew 8% in 2023 to hit a record high $17.1 billion; streaming continues to grow around the world; and revenue and operating income are rising at the three major labels and many smaller companies as well. The subscription streaming model is appealingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}