stay-ahead-music-industry-insights-january-2025

Stay Ahead: Music Industry Insights: January 2025

In the music business, knowledge is power.

The right insights at the right time can help you and your artists make smarter moves—whether it’s leveraging new promotional tools, optimizing content strategies, or staying ahead of industry trends.

From streaming platforms refining their services to social media apps rolling out new creative tools, these updates give you more ways to engage fans, drive growth, and maximize success.

Here’s what’s new this month:

Apple Music: Crackdown on Fraud & What It Means for Artists

Apple Music has taken a strong stance against streaming fraud, revealing that less than 1% of streams on the platform are manipulated. This announcement underscores Apple’s efforts to ensure a fair streaming environment where legitimate engagement drives royalties and recognition.

Streaming fraud, which includes artificial play inflation and bot-generated streams, has been an industry-wide concern, with DSPs tightening their policies to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of payout structures. Apple’s data suggests that its detection measures are effective, but artists and rightsholders should still be aware of best practices to ensure compliance and avoid unintended violations.

Key takeaways for artists and labels:

Legitimate engagement matters. Avoid using third-party services that promise artificial streams or playlist placements.
Metadata accuracy is crucial. Ensure all releases are properly credited to the correct rightsholders to prevent payment disruptions.
Transparency is a priority. Platforms like Apple Music and Spotify are focusing on delivering fair compensation to rights holders who gain authentic traction.

Claim & Optimize Your Apple Music for Artists Profile

If you haven’t already, securing your Apple Music for Artists profile is essential. This tool provides detailed insights into streaming trends, playlist performance, and audience engagement, helping artists and teams make informed decisions about their music.

How to claim your Apple Music for Artists profile:

Sign up at Apple Music for Artists and log in with an Apple ID.
Click Request Artist Access and paste your iTunes Store artist page link to find your profile.
If you can’t find your profile, search for an album or single where you are listed as the primary artist.
Choose your role (Artist, Manager, or Label Rep) and submit the required details.
Providing accurate information speeds up the verification process.

This ensures that your data, visuals, and performance insights are up to date, giving you more control over how your music is presented.

Spotify

Big milestone: Spotify has paid out over $10 billion to music rights holders—proving that the industry is valuing music more than ever.

Spotify has also enhanced Campaign Kit reporting with a new fan visualization tool in Marquee and Showcase self-serve reporting. Now available to all artists and their teams, this feature offers deeper insights into how campaigns bring valuable listeners into or further within an artist’s active audience.

With this update, teams can:

See exactly how listeners move through audience segments after engaging with a campaign.

Get a breakdown of amplified, reactivated, and new active listeners.

Access interactive visualizations in the “Audience Development” section of Campaign Kit reports.

This gives artists more control over their promotional strategy and a clearer picture of how campaigns impact long-term engagement.

Instagram

Instagram just announced Edits, a new companion app built for short-form video creators. This tool makes content creation seamless with:

Advanced editing tools – Green screen, overlays, transitions, and auto-enhance.

Easier project management – Longer capture times and draft storage.

Real-time insights – Get instant feedback on what’s working.

Edits launches in the U.S. soon—iOS pre-orders are open now.

Pre-order on iOS

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is making it easier for emerging artists to get started with a new affordable subscription plan. More accessible tools, better monetization, and more opportunities for independent creators.

More details on Music Week

Feature.fm

Feature.fm now supports Anghami as its 9th pre-save service, making it even easier for artists to build momentum before a release. More platforms, more reach, more engagement.

TikTok

More ways to connect music with fans:

Deezer is now integrated into TikTok’s “Add to Music App” feature, making it easier for users to save songs to their favorite platform.

Winamp

Winamp is evolving with new NFT sales tools as part of its Winamp for Creators suite. More ways for artists to monetize their work and tap into Web3 opportunities.

🔗 More on Music Ally

YouTube

YouTube is rolling out a wave of new features for artists and creators:

Higher-quality audio for Premium subscribers.

AI-powered remixing tools to help creators rework licensed tracks.

Stay Ahead, Stay Ready

In a fast-moving industry, staying informed is the key to staying competitive. Whether it’s new monetization tools, promotional features, or content strategies, the artists who adapt are the ones who thrive.

Use these insights, test new strategies, and make sure you and your artists are always ahead of the game.

Stay tuned for more updates. 🚀