The Lab Report 23 - ABBA, Soundcloud and Music Industry Overload

The Lab Report is back.

After a long hiatus and a handful of standalone articles published over the last year, we're back to our standard newsletter format. We'll be moving to a monthly cadence moving forward, with the usual round up of music industry news and in-depth analysis. As always, we'll be focused on highlighting innovation and thoughtful approaches to moving our industry forward.

For this month's update, we're including a few of our own published articles. There's a case study we recently published on the custom project management system for music we built for artist management company RODA Artists, plus a guest post on music industry burnout for our friends at MusicX. We encourage you to read both as they both speak to the same underlying problem.

We're also including a number of pieces that speak to the future of music, marketing and fandom. Both Ted Gioia's predictions around the future of the music business and Zoe Scaman's report on brand loyalty emphasize the importance of fandom. Scaman's report however is much more tactical, outlining how brand loyalty needs to be developed for success in 2024.

And in case you're wondering what we've been up to, we've been busy working on projects for Mind Against, Cheat Codes, Andy Grammer, GODMODE, and more.

We're also planning Q1 2025, and have capacity to take on a few more label management and music marketing clients. So if you're interested in our services, please reach out at justin@mega-labs.io

Until next time.

Quick Hits

• Music Merch Business Projected to Hit $16B by 2030
• Soundcloud Reveals Electronic Music Fans Are the Most Engaged Worldwide
• ABBA Voyage Generated $129m In 2023, As Virtual Concert Series Attracts 1.1M Visitors
• UMG Uses AI Voice Cloning Tool To Create Spanish-Language Version Of Brenda Lee’s Hit ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’
• Apple Introduces Set Lists - New Tool to Promote Shows
• GEMA Proposes Licensing Model For AI-Generated Music
• UMG Investor Presentation Reveals Major's Plans For Superfans And Streaming Growth

Deeper Dives

✘ There Has To Be A Better Way: How To Overcome Music Industry Overload | Justin De Marco

• The folks at MusicX were kind enough to invite us to write a piece for them. Here we discuss the challenges around music industry burnout and the collective overload we're all too familiar with working in music.
• We all know the major issues. It's information overload, fragmented data, inefficient workflows, being spread too thin across too many projects, the incessant need to feed social platforms, etc.
• Where I hope you derive value is in some of the remedies we suggest:
  • using a project management system (see case study below)
  • identifying and tackling bottlenecks
  • scheduling and repurposing content
  • using AI and automation to lighten the workload
  • pushing for better training and education

Case Study: How We Built The Ultimate Artist Management Hub For RODA Artists | Mega Labs

• Like many companies in music, artist management company RODA Artists was facing some pretty serious challenges around managing all the work for their roster.
• We built their team a custom project management system for music, inspired by the internal system we use at Mega Labs. It's packed with a ton of automations to save labels and managers time, including automated meeting notes, automated tasks and templates for new releases, an Artist Hub to keep track of client projects, plus dedicated areas for campaign management and touring.
• There's a ton more coming on that front, so stay tuned and hit us up at product@mega-labs.io if you're interested in learning more.

Nine Predictions for the Future of the Music Business | Ted Gioia

• Ted Gioia has made a few appearances in The Lab Report via his excellent newsletter The Honest Broker. Here, the writer, cultural critic and music historian, known for his sharp industry analysis, presents nine predictions about the future of music, spanning everything from streaming to live music to artistic independence and more.
• Three in particular stood out:
  • Major record labels will gradually turn into sterile IP management companies
  • Alternative channels will grow faster than the mainstream as audiences seek out excitement beyond algorithmic sludge
  • Superfans and the live business will drive the future of music
• While none of these predictions are particularly novel, the framing of major labels as "sterile IP management companies" akin to private equity and "portfolio managers, not stewards of a creative enterprise" certainly stood out.
• The industry's current leadership - dominated by lawyers, technologists and financiers - has made itself vulnerable by prioritizing old catalogs and data-driven A&R over artist development. Pair that with the recent raft of layoffs and consolidation, and it paints a grim picture for the future of A&R and creativity.
• As AI-generated content floods streaming platforms, Gioia argues the value of human creativity and genuine connection will increase. This could lead to a two-track future: algorithmic background music for passive consumption, alongside a thriving ecosystem of independent artists and passionate fans connected through new platforms and live experiences.
• Let's hope it pans out.

The New Landscape of Loyalty | Zoe Scaman

• Zoe Scaman, founder of creative strategy studio Bodacious, recently put out a monster report outlining her thesis around the future of brand loyalty. While it's written for a more general marketing audience, it's full of value for music marketers.
• After outlining what's changed since the early days of brand loyalty programs, Scaman offers an updated definition of brand loyalty: "A passion-driven participation rooted in value creation, deepened by friction, and amplified by fun."
• It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but the framework is sound. It's a definition of brand loyalty focused on "playful participation," where "loyalty isn't just earned, it's experienced" through "quests," hidden keys that open access to a brand's universe, and a sense of collective participation that gives fans a sense of identity.
• The analysis of "how we got here" was also quite useful as an identifier of strategies to avoid. The era of mass marketing is ending, with new generations ignoring ads, and prioritizing intimacy and "cozy web cliques" where fandom is the dominant currency and friction is a feature.
• The report is certainly long, and it's a lot to digest, but it brings together many important strands of modern marketing into a cohesive whole. Save this one for later and come back to it. It's worth the read.

Eliah Seton: The HITS Interview | Simon Glickan

• We're closing off with a great interview with Soundcloud CEO Eliah Seton in HITS published last month.
• The company's turnaround over the last few years has been impressive and it seems like Soundcloud has really found its stride at the nexus of music discovery, fan engagement and artist tools, serving both listeners and creators through their platform.
• Seton discusses some of the ways artists are using Soundcloud to connect with fans while also teasing at what's coming next. He notably points to Tencent Music's own success with non-streaming monetization. Impressively, Tencent is now driving 25X more revenue per user from non-streaming monetization than through streaming.
• This gap points to the potential we've yet to realize in Western markets and shows just how under-monetized music currently is. It sounds like Soundcloud is focused on trying to solve that problem. Interesting discussion all around.