The music business is now in the process of transforming from being product-based to being music-based. £7 billion has been paid out to music copyright holders by Spotify alone, which now has over 220m users.
“You don’t have to think or look much further than your smartphone, observing that it has a screen and that its the primary tool for consuming music for billions of customers," says Michael Nash of Universal Music, one of the world's big 3 opertors.
“Artists are producing some of the most popular audio-visual content for social media channels and this is obviously an incredible opportunity.”
Martin Mills, Beggars Group Founder and Chairman, highlights how his company has brought in new expertise to respond to the changes in the industry: “In our London office, about 20-25% of our staff are doing jobs that didn’t exist for us five years ago. We have reconfigured our business to respond.”
The changing nature of the music business has forced record companies ito radically alter the way they do business. Any sharp music entrepreneur can take advantage of the huge differences that digital distribution has made. Its never been so easy and so cheap to get into the music business and let your talent steer you to untold wealth, fame and fortune.
Many artistes today make the break after recording their material in 'home studios'. The post-production so vital to makiing a basic track into a hit is so now easy to access, so simple to operate, and so cheap that almost everyone has it at their fingertips.
Universal Music Group, VP, Michael Seltzer says: “Present-day contracts tend to be far more bespoke to the individual and differing needs of an artist than even, say, five years ago. They can also cover more than just recorded music, giving art- ists the opportunity to plug into other parts of our company, be that music publishing, merchandising, brand sponsorships, even documentary and scripted film production, and so forth.
“There are also increasing examples of successful artists building their own label within the Universal ecosystem."