Next Big Sound's 2013 review reports a 137% growth in streaming

Music data analytics company Next Big Sound has released an overview of 2013 in the online music industry based on data from the one million artists that it monitors and it certainly makes for an interesting read.

The company remarks on the growth in the number of users who become “fans” of artists via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud and other social outlets. Artists racked up over 6 billion new fans in 2013, an increase of 5.63% over 2012. But the most impressive growth comes from streaming, which grew by 137% in 2013 going from 93 billion streams to 223 billion. Next Big Sound’s numbers appear to be more comprehensive than those presented by Nielsen Soundscan last week as they include plays from free services like Soundcloud.

Next Big Sound though does note that part of that grown is derived from its new partnership with Spotify which kicked into gear earlier in 2013.

If we look at the company’s tally of most new likes for artists on services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, what’s immediately clear is that there is no consistency between them. Shakira is n.1 when it comes to new page likes (18 million) but doesn’t appear in either the Twitter or Instagram Top 10. Lady Gaga, who was hailed as the queen of social media just a couple of years ago, only makes an appearance as the 8th most newly followed artist on Twitter.

In fact, it’s interesting to note that not a single artist is present in all three Top 10s, showing that social networks are not created equal both in terms of means of expression and in terms of audience.

Looking at consumption across Soundcloud, Vevo and YouTube the only points of crossover are between YouTube and Soundcloud with the likes of Macklemore and Skrillex scoring a spot in both charts. Vevo’s major label artists of course are not generally on Soundcloud due to the free nature of the service. Looking at the play numbers though Vevo reigns king as 9 out of its Top 10 videos have scored over a billion views. By comparison, only Psy has managed over a billion views on YouTube.

As far as artist distribution is concerned here the charts show a real “long tail” of undiscovered artists who make up 90.7% of all those tracked by Next Big Sound. Only 0.2% of artists are classed as Mega, 0.9% as Mainstream, 1.4% as Mid-Sized and 6.8% as Developing. It’s difficult to break through as a new artists online: Next Big Sound’s numbers show that more than 90% of artists in their tracking system attracted less than 3% of the fans and plays across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube/Vevo.

Even with success stories like Lorde's this does not make for particularly encouraging reading for new artists, but the overall growth in streams and the renewed focus on recommendations on premium streaming services could increase the exposure of fans to new and up-and-coming music.


(Andrea Leonelli)