Hello and welcome back to Promoed! It's Friday, which means it's time to dive into another edition of our newsletter.

As we reach the midpoint of the year, we're thrilled to present you with a special mid-year report edition of our newsletter.

Also, in this week’s edition:

• Stormzy's Virtual Concert Series on Spotify.

• Digital Wallets at Harry Styles Concert.

• Simplifying Ticket Buying with Friends.

• Retain Your Spotify for Artists Data.

Promoed's Mid-Year Recap

As we’ve made it to the halfway point of 2023, the Promoed team is taking some time to reflect on our biggest stories from the past six months.

Platform Announcements

Streaming platforms have shared plenty of exciting news this year as they’ve extend their offerings for artists.

At this year’s Stream On event, Spotify announced new features to help artists amplify their presence on their platform.

With Clips and Countdown Pages, artists are given the opportunity to share short-form video content and pre-save hubs for their upcoming releases, respectively.

Ed Sheeran, grentperez and Asake are among the artists who’ve made great use of these features so far.

Soundcloud’s new deal with Merlin saw the platform announce the introduction of fan-powered royalties for Merlin members, including Beggars Group, CD Baby, Downtown Music, Domino, and Epitaph Records.

Additionally, SoundCloud’s new Fans platform has opened up new engagement avenues for artists, even allowing them to DM their most engaged fans.

SoundCloud also unveiled a partnership with FeatureFM, to provide independent artists with more tools for music promotion. The new tools cover marketing, advertising, analytics and CRM.

These are exciting developments and we’re looking forward to seeing how artists utilise them in the second half of 2023.

AI Changes

It’s no secret that AI has been a hot topic across the industry in 2023.

From the fake Drake and The Weeknd track that caused waves, to Grime’s proposal to split royalties on any successful AI-generated song that used her voice, there’s been no shortage of controversial stories surrounding this topic.

With the introduction of RadioGPT and Spotify’s DJ, traditional radio formats are being challenged, and we’re continuing to keep a keen eye on developments in this field.

We’re particularly interested to see if traditional radio adopts AI capabilities to enhance their services.

The industry is still adjusting to advancements in AI and we suspect that will be the case for quite some time.

New Tools

It’s been a great year so far for new music marketing tools too.

In May, we caught up with Paul Trueman, COO of Un:Hurd, to learn about the new self-service music marketing app that leverages the power of data to offer a comprehensive range of services, including digital health checks, playlist pitching, marketing strategies, implementation, detailed reports, and digital advertising.

In March, we highlighted Medallion from former Songkick CEO Matt Jones. The web3 tech is a platform allowing artists to create digital communities for their fans. With these communities, artists can “expand fan participation, actionable insights, and economic potential.”

Campaigns Galore

The year has also produced some great release campaigns. From Private Function’s world-first scratchie vinyl sleeve, to Boy & Bear’s first ever indie record, and Arlo Parks’ fan-focussed campaign - 2023 releases have given us plenty to talk about.

We’d like to take a moment to say thank you to all the new subscribers who’ve joined team Promoed this year, and thank you to those who have continued to support our newsletter. There’s plenty more to come for the second half of the year.

^{Written by Olivia Gliku}

In Other Marketing News

Stormzy's Virtual Concert Series on Spotify: Stormzy and PepsiCo's Rockstar Energy Drink have unveiled plans to inaugurate a free in-app concert series on Spotify. This forms a part of their new initiative from Rockstar titled Rockstar 'Press Play' Concert.

The premiere of this digital concert experience is scheduled for 5pm GMT on July 21st, and will be available to stream across Spotify until August 4th.

The concert series will feature a virtual performance by Stormzy. In addition, artists from France, Poland, and Germany will participate in the series, contributing to its international flavour.

The event promises to transport attendees through five captivating digital worlds, enhancing the immersive aspect of the experience.

💡Insight - The word ‘metaverse’ is not mentioned in the press release but this idea of a virtual concert series seems to be leaning that way, which makes it all the more interesting to see Spotify’s involvement.

Digital Wallets at Harry Styles Concert: During a recent concert in Ireland featuring Harry Styles, EVNTZ, a dedicated app for music enthusiasts, reported that 5,000 attendees utilised their digital 'wallets'.

This initiative was the result of a collaboration between EVNTZ and the web3 agency Co:Create.

According to a blog post by Co:Create, the integrated features in the app enable fans to engage in multiple event-related activities. Users can explore venue maps, organise transportation, and share their concert experiences through photos.

💡Insight - It would be interesting to hear fans’ thoughts on this, in particular what unique value they got from it. We suspect fans would want more than what was on offer here.

Simplifying Ticket Buying with Friends: DICE, the event-discovery and ticketing platform, recently introduced ‘Groups’, a new feature aimed at simplifying group event planning.

Now, friends can collectively purchase tickets for a show, bypassing the typical coordination challenges associated with group outings.

Users can create a Group directly from their profile or while saving an event, making the process remarkably user-friendly.

💡Insight - This seems like a great feature! We predict that more ticketing companies will jump on this bandwagon.

Learn

Retain Your Spotify for Artists Data: Beginning July 1st, Spotify for Artists will be implementing significant changes to its data retention policy.

The platform will only maintain data on song pages for the previous two years, plus the current year.

For those who appreciate a deep dive into their historical data (like us), it's recommended to download this information while it's still accessible.

Here's a quick guide on how to do this:

1. Visit Spotify for Artists on your desktop.

2. Navigate to song pages or the Audience Overview tab.

3. Locate the downward arrow icon on the page.

4. Click on the icon to download a CSV file of the data.

Remember to secure your historical data before the new policy takes effect and maintain your own records moving forward.

ICYMI

Catch up on our recent stories:

• A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Boy & Bear's Independent Album Release

• The Marketing of Peach PRC's Chart-Topping EP

• Behind Arlo Parks’ ‘My Soft Machine’ Release

Lead Writer - Olivia Gliku
Editor and Publisher - Nick Lynagh

Promoed is created and published by Habit Music Pty Ltd.

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^{We acknowledge the Turrbal people, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we stand, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.}