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Last year, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) issued a report suggesting that independent labels claimed a 37.6% market share in 2015. The WINTEL write-up, co-authored by respected analyst Mark Mulligan, discovered that independent labels generated $5.6 billion in revenue in the year. Unlike traditional market share metrics, which judge the industry on distribution power, the WIN report instead measured money generated by rights ownership. Why that�s important: a big chunk of the major labels� global market share is typically based on the revenue they accrue through their ability to distribute releases from independent label partners. Much of this revenue, however, is subsequently paid through to the majors� independent partners. In the case of UMG, for instance, that includes Big Machine (Taylor Swift), Concord (Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney) and Glassnote (Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino � pictured). WIN argues that it�s the rights ownership figure, rather than the dis...

People paying for the likes of Spotify and Apple Music played more music streams in the US last year than users of YouTube � in a dramatic market reversal. That�s according to the latest data from trusted market monitor BuzzAngle � whose stats show that digital video music streams grew by just 7.5% in the year. By contrast, audio on-demand services saw streams on their platforms grow by a whopping 82.6% � from 137.29bn in 2015 to 250.73bn in 2016. That was enough to comfortably overtake digital video, which attracted 181.31bn music streams in 2015, up 7.5% on 168.59bn in 2015. (Obviously, two related players completely dominate this field. So for �digital video� you can largely read �YouTube and Vevo�. And before you ask� BuzzAngle�s tally includes both premium content and identified tracks attached to YouTube user-generated-content.) Ad-funded on-demand streaming volume only grew 14.3% , up to 59.36bn from 51.96bn year-on-year. Ad-funded on-demand streaming volume only...