A Little Knowledge... #40
Music Ally
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Welcome to A Little Knowledge #40 – our free weekly LinkedIn newsletter.
??? BULLETIN NEWS – Some music distributors are still havens for streaming fraud
Music-streaming fraud is A Thing, and as an industry we've become aware that it could be accounting for anywhere between 5% and 10% of plays on streaming services.
This week however, Morgan Hayduk and Andrew Batey, co-CEOs of Beatdapp – one of the startups that is helping the industry to tackle this challenge – told Music Ally’s Focus podcast that the percentages may be far higher for certain music distributors.
"It's common for us to see fraud between 20 and 60% of all streams on multiple distributors, month over month. We're seeing massive amounts, and some big names that you would not expect," said Batey, adding that the highest he's seen is 74% in one month.
"There are also some distributors who are very clean, who have almost no fraud. So it's not like an all-distributor problem. It definitely lends itself to DIY platforms, and one of the risks is that they have an incentive to sort of keep it going, because they take a percentage of the revenue that comes through... This problem is huge. It's a lot bigger than people want to say."
The pair also offered some thoughts on who's trying to manipulate streams and why: "80% of this is from financial scammers, not from artists themselves." said Batey. That 80% "is financially motivated fraud, which means they do not want to be in the charts. They do not want to be in the top 100, top 10. They would rather have 500,000 devices working in concert to play a song one time per day across multiple streaming services, and extract value in pennies."
Beatdapp is working with DSPs but also a growing number of distributors to tackle these challenges, and Hayduk said he is optimistic that the percentage of fraudulent streams can be reduced from the current 5-10% range. "I think less than 1% is a completely realistic and attainable goal," he said.
Tap or click here to listen to the full episode of the Music Ally Focus podcast on your platform of choice.
??? Music Ally archive: Beatdapp
??? TIME MACHINE: What were we discussing this week 5 and 10 years ago?
?Change in the music industry happens fast, whistling by at the speed of the song "Annoying Ringtone” by Extratone Pirates – which peaks at a danceable 1000 bpm. But just how fast? Here’s what we were writing about five and ten years ago this week.
领英推荐
November 12, 2018: "Can Facebook ‘Lasso’ teenagers with its new music app?"
We reported on Facebook launching its take on the TikTok formula: an app called Lasso, which had music is at its core. "But will it be a hit?" we asked. The answer was:... no. The app was closed down in July 2020.
November 13, 2013: "Google Glass is now a music player"
We reported that Google Glass – the early-to-market augmented-reality face-computer – was getting a musical boost, "with the ability to search for songs, scan users’ playlists and actually play the tracks." So what happened next? Well the technology didn't quite take off as intended (wearers infamously became known as "Glassholes").?
??? MUSIC ALLY JOBS
The latest and best jobs for the global music business, trusted by both top music industry companies and experienced professionals on top of their game.
Are you looking for a job? Click here to see the full list of vacancies!
??? A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...
?And finally… our daily Bulletin newsletter is loved by subscribers for its instant industry analysis - but secretly, the part they like most is the ‘A Little Something Extra’ section at the bottom of the email. Here's a few of the best recent links:
This is only a glimpse into this week's The Knowledge newsletter – subscribe for FREE?and every Friday it’ll arrive in your inbox with:
?? Exclusive access to selected courses in our LEARNING HUB; ????The best new platforms in TOOLS;??? Highlights from our latest COUNTRY PROFILE REPORTS; ?? ???Some great and/or strange music in SOMETHING 4 THE WEEKEND; ?? A look back in TIME MACHINE; ?? The Music Ally Focus PODCAST; and????more links to our favourite unusual stuff in A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA.