Why Survival and Revival of Music Albums Depends on Streaming?

by Richa Jha Asistent Manager

The year 1999 saw peak of sales in global music albums. Beyond that the overall industry revenue of new all song kept dropping for nearly two decades due to piracy.

However, the year 2015 saw a turning point, with online mp3 song streaming revenue growth offsetting declines in physical music albums sale and downloads. The online mp3 songs are now regaining the lost identity and fighting back the good fight.

Lack of Monetization

In 1999, Napster took the world by storm as it made mp3 songs online play and file transfers available to some 80 million users. Not to forget its disregard for copyright laws. And, the lawsuits against the company gave it free publicity.

Soon, a plethora of similar sites emerged that made sure that piracy of online music hindi, English or any other language, spreads like a virus. This also led to decline of music album sales as mp3 songs online play emerged.

To compete, paid downloads of mp3 tracksseemed like the only viable option, offering consistent sound quality and a clear conscience as value propositions.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but this was a poor response and further disrupted the industry, effectively unbundling music albums and enabling the cherry picking of online mp3 songswith negative effects on revenue.

It also created a restrictive experience for the consumer with tracks stuck on certain devices, while inertia to spend nominal amounts on a single song meant the lure of piracy remained.

The Chance for Streaming

Streaming of old mp3 song and new ones has made things much easier. For instance, with YouTube. It has become a major means of monetization.

People have now slowly begun to embrace paid streaming as it comes at a reasonable price. For about 10 dollars a month you can gain access to about 30 million mp3 songs online play on any digital device.

The advantages of streaming also include; curated new all song playlists, offline and download availability. Moreover, the sound quality remains top-notch.

With new voice-controlled devices like Alexa by Amazon, searching and listening tracks online has become more enjoyable. At the end of 2017, global paid streaming subscribers stood at 180 million.

Revival

Global and Indian streaming platforms such as Spotify and Sabakuch have led to the revival of music albums in the industry. Experts predict these platforms producing their own music and disrupting major record labels.

There is also a sense of dilemma prevailing, with the labels needing the platforms for distribution and the platforms needing the labels for content. This is causing a an emergence of semi-collaborative approach, with a delicate balance to grow the market.

While everyone still awaits the day when online mp3 songs industry will party like its 1999 again, the revival has begun.