There is a minor irony in the streaming music industry: the big players are investing heavily on live events to actually get people to return to phones and computers to stream contents. So, right there in Africa, if you plan to open a streaming music website without plans to get musicians on live events, you are missing the other element that makes the double play strategy successful. The business is streaming but the boost is now live events. That explains why all the major Nigerian musicians are basically on constant tours around the world. Apple just hired one (Burna Boy) for Apple Music Up Next Artist, and he will be on live concerts to do one thing: get people to subscribe to Apple Music service.
When Taylor Swift takes the stage Wednesday night in New York City, only around 2,000 fans will be on hand to see the concert in person, but millions more are expected to watch live online via Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day promotion.
Music-streaming services including Apple Music and Spotify are counting on live events to set themselves apart from one another, further connect fans with artists and keep their subscription payments flowing. They have been experimenting with concerts based on popular playlists, album-listening…
Simply, the business is not just streaming music but also doing live events to activate streaming subscriptions. That happens not by focusing on the few users who are live but those watching and connecting from around the world through the web. As you see the artist performs “live” – digitally or physically – you may be moved to keep that subscription going because there would be more concerts in future. The live concert is now the double play in the streaming music industry.
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To build a sustainable business requires many elements, and you have to keep pushing very hard, for you to even stand a chance of earning profit.
It’s clear that with all the talks about creativity, innovation and great managerial capabilities, there is one feature you must never allow to run dry: capital.
To set up a digital company appears cheap, but to keep it going and innovative is actually costly, you cannot do so with your feeding money…
As always, technology most times is the easiest part, the marketing can easily cost a fortune; even your competitors will force you to open the wallet. Whether you are sponsoring original contents or hiring musicians, they all require spending more money at every turn.
And in Africa where getting capital remains a premium, the road ahead is really long and turbulent.
Yes indeed – it is getting harder understanding what makes these firms winners. Yes, it may not be the obvious factor.
Mr Ekekwe, Are you saying the streaming music industry is not an obvious factor to gain traction from investors unlike the unlimited supply fintechs have been stocking?
Not really – I was saying that you need to add other elements for music streaming to work. Yet, I have written that music streaming is a very bad business model https://www.tekedia.com/why-video-streaming-business-is-better-than-music-streaming/