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A new report reveals why piracy continues in the streaming age

anti-piracy, Piracy, Digital Piracy, Music Piracy, piracy in 2019, 2019 piracy, media piracy, film piracy, tv piracy

The New Zealand based study finds piracy “isn’t driven by law-breakers” anymore.

Piracy was supposed to end with the dawn of streaming. Entertainment analysts predicted that having the vast majority of movies, music, and television a few clicks away at any moment would remove any need for digital piracy. After all, who doesn’t have a Netflix and Spotify (or similar subscription services) account in 2019?

The solution to piracy was never as simple as people like to believe. Studies show that streaming has changed consumer behaviors, but as more services become available with exclusive content from major stars, a new issue is emerging. Paying for Netflix and Spotify here in the United States will set people back about $25 a month. For some, that figure is not a problem, but others cannot afford it. Add to this, the rising popularity of Hulu ($10 a month), Amazon Prime Video ($8.99), HBOGo ($10), and DC Universe ($7.99), as well as upcoming streaming services from companies like Disney (likely to cost $10 or more per month), and the price associated with seeing everything is getting pretty high.

That figure is so high, in fact, that many consumers cannot afford to keep up. According to a new study commissioned by New Zealand telecoms group Vocus Group NZ and conducted in December 2018, while the enhanced availability streaming provides is having a positive effect overall, it’s also leading some consumer to pirate.

“In short, the reason people are moving away from piracy is that it’s simply more hassle than it’s worth,” says Taryn Hamilton, Consumer General Manager at Vocus Group.

“The research confirms something many internet pundits have long instinctively believed to be true: piracy isn’t driven by law-breakers, it’s driven by people who can’t easily or affordably get the content they want.”

Speaking strictly to film and television, the majority (75%) of those surveyed said that free-to-air TV services are their weapons of choice for viewing content, with 61% utilizing free on-demand channels offered by broadcasters. Around 58% of respondents said they visit the cinema, with paid streaming services such as Netflix utilized by 55%.

The results of the study are mostly positive. Piracy seems to be declining, but as competition for consumer dollars in streaming grows, illegal downloading may see a resurgence. That goes for film, television, and music alike. Access over exclusivity is best for everyone, but it often means less money for creators. Is there a solution that makes everyone happy AND lowers the likelihood of piracy? We don’t know.

“The big findings are that whilst about half of people have pirated some content in their lives, the vast majority no longer do so because of the amount of paid streaming sites that they have access to,” Hamilton added in a video interview with NZHerald.

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TIDAL reveals $1 million artist grant program, starting in Detroit

TIDAL is the first streaming platform to make developing young talent one of its primary concerns.

Spotify and Apple Music are the first names most think of when asked about streaming services, but TIDAL is not far behind. Jay-Z’s music streaming service boasts 4.2 million subscribers worldwide, and as of this week, the platform has become the first in its field to make a focused effort to discover and develop promising young talent.

Tidal Unplugged is a new, $1 million endowment program made possible by philanthropists Mark Lampart and Robert Nelsen, two of venture capitalists associated with the platform. Kicking it off in Detroit, the promotion aims to give artists the means and resources to pursue their passion. A brief explanation on the Tidal Unplugged landing page reads:

All local artists are welcome to submit an acoustic performance to be eligible for the program. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allows aspiring musicians to dedicate more time and energy to seeking a career as an artist.

Artist Incentives:

– Artist incentives
– Creative budget
– Monthly stipend
– Access to recording & creative resources
– Industry mentoring
– Promotional support via TIDAL Rising
– Opportunity to perform in a TIDAL Unplugged showcase

At the end of the program, finalists will develop and finish four songs for distribution.  Once complete, the tracks will debut on TIDAL.  Artists will also maintain 100% ownership of their works.

TIDAL hopes to expand the program in other markets.

Sbumissions for TIDAL Unplugged begin on March 1. For additional information, please contact unplugged@tidal.com.

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SoundCloud enters the distribution game with SoundCloud Premier

SoundCloud is joining Spotify as the latest streaming giant to offer distribution services.

SoundCloud is joining Spotify as the latest streaming giant to offer distribution services.

A good CEO can change everything. With the right person in power, a company can go from the brink of failure to being widely considered an essential component of its industry in a relatively small amount of time. They can also change public perception, raise awareness, and discover new revenue streams that do not alienate users or further complicate a product.

SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor cannot is unstoppable. Two years after reports of the platform’s demise began to circulate throughout the industry, Trainor’s guidance has helped the company bring in over $100 million in revenue annually, as well as many significant updates that have raised the profile and utility of Soundcloud to new heights.

Trainor’s next move may change everything. This week, SoundCloud announced the beta launch of SoundCloud Premier, a distribution service that will allow artists to upload their music to numerous streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. The company hopes the service, which is the first to be built directly into a streaming platform, will make SoundCloud a kind of ‘mission control’ for artists on the rise. Musicians can now choose from their uploaded tracks and albums and distribute to all major music services while keeping 100% of their rights and payouts (SoundCloud takes nothing) and getting streamlined payments directly from SoundCloud.

SoundCloud Premier is available at no additional cost to all eligible Pro and Pro Unlimited subscribers who are 18 years of age or older, creators of original music, have zero copyright strikes, and at least 1,000 monetizable track plays. Eligible creators can expect eligibility notifications via email and in-product notifications over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, you can learn more here. If you think you’d be eligible but haven’t gone Pro, you can upgrade now, and the company will contact you if/when you qualify. In addition to one revenue stream that reigns supreme, you’ll get the pro tools to level up your career, so that you can grow your audience and make even more music to distribute.

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Dear Spotify: Please create a ‘Followed Artists’ feed

Spotify playlists are shaping the future music business, but reaching the curators of the most influential lists is often incredibly difficult. We can help.

Spotify is, by far, the world’s largest music streaming service. The company currently boasts 191 million monthly users and the music of over 2 million artists. They add nearly 20,000 songs per day.

Spotify also leads the industry from a development standpoint. Nearly every significant advance in music streaming technology over the last five years has started with the company, from offline access to direct upload distribution.

While the company is continuously taking steps to empower artists on their platform further, they have fallen short in doing the same for users. Listeners can choose to ‘Follow’ artists they love, but as of this moment, the tool has little use aside from automating the occasional push notification when relevant content becomes available on the platform. It’s not constant, however, as many fans never received notifications when the artists they follow release new music.

And if that’s true, which it is, then what is the purpose of the ‘Follow’ button?

It would benefit fans and artists alike if Spotify created a ‘Followed’ feed. This feature would operate much like a newsfeed on Facebook, except (ideally) in a more efficient manner. Users would use the feed to browse a timeline of updates regarding artists they have followed. This would include releases, as well as any supplementary information the platform allows (tour dates, new merch, playlists, etc.), listed in chronological order.

The advantages of adding this feature include:

  • Higher likelihood of engagement with new releases for smaller artists
  • Incentivizes more artists to promote their presence on Spotify
  • The ability for the platform to ‘suggest’ other artists based on taste
  • Would open the door to allowing additional supplemental content offerings in the future, such as news updates, video releases, etc.

The cons are…Well, the cons are nonexistent.

A ‘Followed Artists’ feed is a win-win for everyone involved. Spotify no doubt has a long list of developments in their production pipeline, but this one feels like its long overdue. Is there any chance we will ever see it, or something similar, brought to life? Only time will tell.

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Here Are The 10 Biggest Music Streaming Apps, Worldwide

The jury may still be out on the debate of whether or not streaming makes a direct impact on someone’s decision to buy an album, but regardless the age of streaming appears to be here to stay. There are new streaming services popping up every few weeks, and at the same time the current competitors are scrambling for exclusives and other offerings to help them stand out from the pack. You may not believe in using these services yourself, but its clear from the data made public that a good portion of consumers feel they are the new normal, and in business public opinion carries a lot of weight.

App Annie, a company that specializes analytics services and market intelligence as it relates to the world of apps, has released a new report on the popularity of streaming services around the globe. The 31-page document, which is available for free download to anyone interested, aims to help identify music streaming opportunities in active users, downloads and revenue.

A few takeaways from the report include:

  • The top streaming apps worldwide saw data consumption per active Android phone user grow by 25% year-on-year while downloads increased by around 15% and revenue from in-app purchases doubled.
  • New opportunities are growing and being served by players in Asian markets where local content puts regional players ahead of global giants.
  • Traditional FM radio networks are finding some traction with apps, potentially providing a model that networks in other markets can replicate.
  • Mixtape streaming apps are on the rise, highlighting the value users place in new music discovery. 

The report also outlines the top performing streaming services around the globe as of October 2015, both for iPhone users and those who prefer Android devices. 

The success of Spotify probably won’t come as a surprise to most, but there are numerous competitors on both charts that have received little to no press stateside. Still, by sheer luck or some kind of marketing genius completely oblivious to us, there are new users signing up to take advantage of those lesser known services every single day. Could TuneIn Radio be the next big thing in music streaming? It sure seems like it.

The one thing missing from these charts, or at least the iPhone chart, is Apple Music. The streaming service, which launched at the end of June, had only just ended its initial round of free user trials when the data for these charts was pulled. If we could see the November data I am confident Apple Music would be a top 5 competitor, but right now it’s unclear how their userbase stacks up to the competition.

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How To Turn Off Your Apple Music Auto-Renewal As First Wave Of Free Trials Expire

Three months passed pretty quick, eh?

Tonight, September 30, marks the end of the free trial period for the first wave of Apple Music users. Those who signed up the first day the streaming service became available will have to decide in the coming hours if they want to keep their subscription or cancel, and those who signed up in the days after launch may want to start considering their options as well. An Apple Music subscriptions costs $9.99 per month, or $14.99 per month for a family subscription for up to six people (which requires iCloud Family Sharing). This is comparable to the cost of Spotify ($10 per month, $4.99 for students), as well as Rdio ($10 per month, which includes an offline listening mode), but doesn’t necessarily make Apple Music the better choice. That decision will likely be based largely on user preference, so we won’t waste any time trying to sway you one way or another.

If you weigh your renewal options and decide Apple Music is not for you, follow these simple steps to ensure you subscription ends when your free trial expires:

1) Open Apple Music

2) Tap the Account icon in the upper left corner of the app

3) Tap on View Apple ID

4) Select Manage under Subscriptions

5) Turn the slider next to Automatic Renewal to Off.

6. Confirm your cancellation

7. Once confirmed, your account will stay active until your current trial/month comes to an end.

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The Impact Of Streaming Music Services On The Livelihood Of Indie Artists

Hello and welcome to the final Advice column of the week. We did not set out to run a series of in-depth editorials over the last few days, but sometimes content develops in ways you never expected. For this particular piece, we became fascinated with the struggles of signed bands and wanted to shed a light on their troubles to help developing artists prepare for the realities of life in the music industry. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Today I was scrolling through the latest music headlines when I stumbled across a post from my friends at Indie Vision Music that captured my imagination. I Am Empire, a relatively popular rock band signed with Solid State Records, shared a photo on their Facebook page showing a quarterly streaming royalties statement. The image, which you can view below, was not exactly the kind of thing rock and roll dreams are made of:

The band offered an explanation for the image on the original post: 

“A glimpse into being an indie artist on an indie label. This I Am Empire royalty statement shows nearly 500,000 internet radio streams/plays on one quarterly statement. Total royalty paid from this portion. $.58 per band member. Spotify streams.. nearly 50,000 streams.. paid $3.35.”

Anyone who keeps an eye on industry news knows that photos of royalty payments like this are nothing new in the world of music, especially in the realm of hard rock. In January of this very year, Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum shared a photo of a check for $0.01. “This is what we call, “BIG TIME!,” he wrote on Facebook. "Don’t worry..big news is coming but for now..we got to spend all this cash!”

Here are six more examples for those who love tiny checks.

If you’re an artist dreaming on one day making music your full time career, seeing images like this being shared by some of the biggest people in your preferred genre of music can be incredibly disheartening. People have been saying for years that the music industry is either dead or dying, but it’s a lot harder to brush off as nonsense when you see the types of payouts headline artists are being given on a regular basis. Life should never be about the money, of course, but people must be able to make a living in order to provide for their own basic needs (not to mention the needs of their family). 

There is not a lot you can do in the immediate future to change the tide of streaming payouts, but I do believe that we will see that area of the business undergo several more evolutions before it’s more or less ‘figured out. The give and take between the companies responsible for the platform, the labels who signed the talent, and the talent themselves needs to be addressed in a big bad way. Again, that’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but that does not mean it will never happen at all. It will, but things like this take time. You must be patiently pro-active, or in other words doing whatever you can to make the best of things while the powers that be workout the ‘big idea’ stuff for the rest of us. Even if you’re not giving part of your proceeds to a label, the amount of money you’re earning off each stream is a fraction of what you deserve. You have a voice, so the I advice that you put it to use and make your frustrations known. Things won’t change over night, but every bit of fight certainly helps move things along.

You are not helpless or alone in the war against streaming payouts and the ever-shrinking revenue streams made available to artists. The struggle to make a living in music is as real for you as it is for your favorite musicians and the professionals who work with them (most of the time). You cannot change things right away, but you can promote the continued support of live music and ask fans to buy your music whenever possible. Most people do not understand the way streaming payouts work, and because of that fact they sometimes see no difference between buying a single on iTunes for a dollar or streaming that same song through their premium Spotify account. Be honest with them about the realities of streaming and some will come around to the notion it might not be the ‘industry savior’ so many have made it out to be. They will remember your message and make it a point to financially support you whenever possible. Others will never listen, but that’s just life.

The best thing you can do for yourself in this situation is to set an example for others to follow. Support music. Go to shows, buy albums, share photos of your vinyl, tweet at musicians, and do whatever else you can think of to get the point across that you not only love music, but you care about those responsible for making it. Others will notice your efforts and follow suit. If you’re in a band, this means they will follow and support you. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it may work wonders for your career.

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Haulix Advice: Are You Getting Paid What Is Owed To You By Streaming Services?

Hello, everyone! We are continuing our look at life in the music industry this afternoon with the first of two Advice columns for the week. If you have any questions about the content of this article, or if you have a suggestions for a future installment of this series, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Hunter S. Thompson famously called the music industry ‘a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.’ While we do not necessarily agree with this sentiment,we can agree the music publishing world is a strange and often confusing place place where things slip through the cracks when no one is looking. If you’re a band working with sites like Spotify or Rdio today without someone representing you in the publishing world who has at the very least a working knowledge of how the business game is played there is a good chance you may be missing out on money that is owed to you. We cannot help you claim monies potentially due, but we can help you better understand the numerous ways independent artists are able to generate income through streaming services.

1. Basic stream payments

There have been dozens, if not hundreds of blog posts written across the world wide web about the lack of quote/unquote “fair” payout to artists from streaming platforms. Many bands have turned to social media with complaints, often citing how thousands of streams resulted in less cash than would be required to fill the same band’s van a single time while on tour. Regardless, there is money to be made here. These payments are often referred to as the ‘master royalty’ or ‘artist royalty,’ but in simpler terms they are fees being paid for streaming your licensed sound recording.

2. Peformance royalties

Performance royalties in the music industry can include any of the following:

  • a performance of a song or composition – live, recorded or broadcast
  • a live performance by any musician
  • a performance by any musician through a recording on physical media
  • performance through the playing of recorded music
  • music performed through the web (digital transmissions)

That last one is where streaming comes in. As long as you’re registered as both a songwriter and publisher with a performing rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI, then you’ll receive these royalties. If not, click here for more information on Performing Rights Organizations and how you can become a member.

3. Mechanical royalties

The term mechanical royalty covers any copyrighted audio composition that is rendered mechanically. For example: 

  • tape recordings
  • music videos
  • ringtones
  • MIDI files
  • downloaded tracks
  • DVDs, VHS, UMDs
  • computer games
  • musical toys etc.

Several online services, including YouTube and Spotify, likely owe you for these royalties. Unfortunately, due to a number of loopholes and similar ‘industry troubles’ many independent artists never see this money without the help of a publishing agent (HFA, for example).

4. Performance royalties for the master recording

This one requires the help of our friends at SoundExchange. They collect performance royalties on behalf of the people who helped create a particular sound recording, including session players, record labels, etc. Spotify pays these kinds of performance royalties to SoundExchange for “non-interactive” plays via Spotify Radio, but not for on-demand streams).If you’re interested in joining SoundExchange, click here for information on becoming a member. Signing up is fast, easy, and best of all – absolutely FREE.

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