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Music shop in Dublin (Simon Roughneen)
“Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie,” Pink Floyd sang in their 1973 hit “Money”. Half a century later, the line rings true for musicians struggling to make the kind of money once earned by their predecessors.
But hopes are being raised that this is about to change, with a possible rise in streaming revenues bringing with it the prospect of bands being able to make more from streaming.
For subscribers to the likes of Spotify, however, it may mean more monthly costs.
According to investment bank Goldman Sachs, “the industry has yet to fully monetize its content, with music streaming services seeing less revenue for every song streamed.”
The rise of mobile music streaming, which offers musicians notoriously slim profit margins, has undercut the legacy industry of studios, albums and hit singles and contributed to the rise in ticket prices as artists try to make money other ways.
But in an August report, Goldman Sachs said “major structural change” is now possible for the industry, predicting compound annual growth of 8.6% a year to 2030, with streaming growth to hit 11%.
Lisa Yang, head of Goldman’s European Media and Internet Research team, said that the sector was “on the cusp of a cycle of recurring subscription price increases to improve monetization.”
“Several music streaming platforms have pushed through price increases on their standard plans” Yang said.
The bank’s report comes as Spotify is rumoured to be mulling a price increase for its premium service, currently $11/€11 monthly, and after other streaming businesses, including Netflix, Peacock, YouTube and Amazon Prime, put up prices or altered subscription terms earlier in 2023.
