I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since Jasper Donat's annual All That Matters conference in Singapore. It was a fantastic week seeing old friends, making new ones and learning about the latest trends. It was my privilege to speak at the event so I wanted to share my interview conducted by the inimitable Rich Robinson, entrepreneur in residence, Animoca Brands, where I talk about where Napster and the broader music industry is headed in 2025. Hope it sparks some ideas, please lmk any feedback.
After all the meetings I have had recently with major labels, indies, artists, managers, startups, venues, magazines, brands and web3 companies, it is clear that we are at a fork in the road for the digital music industry or as Lucian, CEO of UMG, calls it the beginning of "Streaming 2.0". The traditional DSP streaming industry is reaching market saturation in developed markets, the all you can eat, single player, one size fits all model is getting tired (note - there will still be material user growth in developing markets over the coming years). Fans and artists are ready for a new model. something fresh, where fans can connect with each other and artists can connect directly with their fans, express themselves in new creative ways and unlock a plethora of new revenue streams that will allow artists to actually earn a living doing what they love.
The other key trend for 2025 will be the emergence of the music curator class who have not been given any real stage time to date and have not benefited economically for all the help they have given us discovering the best music to listen to and music friends to connect with. All the parties that help us find out what to listen to on and offline will become more prominent as they start to monetize and connect their communities.
We are closing a new funding round at Napster and are gearing up to launch our new product in 2025 that will introduce social features as well as new direct to fan monetization tools and features. It will look very different to the incumbent offerings. Other peers like SoundCloud and new startups like EVEN, Mellomanic, FanCircles, Medallion are going to give it a go as well. A groundswell is growing and it is feeling more and more inevitable. The power and reach of fans and independent artists is going to help us unleash this second phase of digital, finally making music fun again like Napster did back in the day creating the first phase of digital music and bringing more than 90M people onto the Internet.
I am excited and supportive of all the great companies that are building for this new era looking to deliver a more exciting, social and valuable proposition to fans, artists and curators.
It's time for change! Let's make it happen together...
Kevin Brown Mag Rodriguez Matt Jones Andy Apple Ralph Simon FRSA Eliah Seton
#napster #musicindustry #superfans #allthatmatters #asia
Thanks for the love!