Music Business

Bridging the social music gap

Despite the prevalence of short-form digital content across all types of social media, music has yet to be utilized in the same way – something which Songclip aims to change.

Guest post by Kendall Berman, Global Business Development at Songclip

With more than half of the world’s population actively involved on social media, now more than ever, the music industry has one of the largest opportunities to go where consumers are. The prevalence of mobile phones has contributed to the explosive growth of short-form digital content, with tens of billions of photos, videos, GIFs, texts and emojis shared daily. Music has long remained absent from these quick forms of communication and expressions, despite the fact that music is integral to day-to-day culture. Consumers want music in their daily digital interactions and more social apps and digital platforms are trying to understand how to bridge the social music gap.  

Music as a feature, meaning the ability to integrate and monetize music experiences inside of apps, will be a multi-billion-dollar global market.  Digital platform developers and entrepreneurs are eager to integrate popular music to create new consumer innovations like music filters, music stickers, music overlays on photos and videos and music profiles for dating and messaging. Yet, to date, it’s been difficult for apps to integrate music as a feature because there is no efficiency for music licensing, no library of music clips built for the diversity of social use cases and no solution to properly report and monetize to rights owners for IP usage. 

We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface on how short-form music can be utilized across social media. Short form music – or “music clips” – as we know them today thrive in “walled-gardens;” the few companies which have successfully secured music licensing rights. Likewise, there hasn’t been an optimal format for music as expression or communication. A three- or four-minute song is too long for our eight-second attention spans. In order to properly capture and convey the power of music in our day-to-day lives, music needs to remain personal and emotional, and for the purpose of quick digital interactions, also needs to be short, snappy, engaging and easily digestible. Meta-tagged music clips optimized for the variety of social use cases solves the current formatting hurdle but can also provide robust data and analytics to drive new data cohorts around digital consumerism.  

Companies like Songclip facilitate music as a feature, providing an optimized social music format, helping to navigate the complexities of music licensing, and ensuring that rights owners are properly compensated for their IP. Thus, magnifying the already massive opportunity to bring music into social media. As more entrepreneurs and innovators have access to music, more digital music features, products and services will continue to emerge that better align with our daily cultural norms.  

The growth of music in the digital space will drive exponential value for the music industry, for the app developers and for global consumers everywhere. Music as a feature will drive new revenue generating opportunities for the music industry, new distribution and discovery channels for artists, deeper engagement and consumer satisfaction on platforms and an overall more human experience on social media. As the late poet and novelist Victor Hugo said best, “music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”  We don’t live our lives in silence, so it’s only natural that our socially connected world should empower us to do the same. 

Kendall Berman is an early pioneer of music innovation. From her early days street team marketing for the Jonas Brothers, to streaming music playlist strategy and digital commerce at Def Jam, she’s now at the crossroads of music and consumerism at Songclip. 

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2 Comments

  1. The music industry is changing over the generations, and it has a huge influence on society, especially the youth whose interests and views are on the step of formation. I suppose it is exactly what caused the appearance of different music subcultures. I have read more information on this subject by accessing this link when I prepared my college paper on the influence of the different subcultures and digitalization on music formation. What I can tell is that the music industry gives large opportunities to those who want to create content.

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