It all starts with a song.
Yet songwriters today find themselves at the bottom of the economic totem pole.
This is not news for anyone working in the music industry. As we covered extensively in our 2022 report, Music Publishing in the Age of the Songwriter, the industry has long been calling for reform and better remuneration for songwriters in the digital era.
And now a new report from MIDiA Research, Songwriters take the stage, which details the results of its first-ever songwriter survey, reveals fresh insights into their wants, needs, and challenges, and how the publishing industry can better support them
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
Streaming income (or lack thereof) is the biggest challenge
67% of the 300 songwriters surveyed for the report named “lack of meaningful streaming income” as their biggest challenge, and it remains the top obstacle regardless of income level and career stage. “Breaking through the noise” came in second at 40%, while “Difficulty finding collaborators / pitching songs”, “Lack of time to create”, and “Lack of publishing industry knowledge” all made the top 5.
Mind the (income) gap
While 61% of the songwriters surveyed defined success as earning a sustainable living from their craft, the report highlights a significant income disparity across songwriters. The majority of songwriters in the sample make under $10,000 annually with only 10% earning more than $30,000.
Sync is viewed as key to success
In today’s challenging market, songwriters are increasingly looking to diversify their income streams and the report shows that sync opportunities are more sought-after than ever by songwriters today. Songwriters view sync placements (31%) as the most promising path to meaningful revenue, more so than landing a hit song (20%).
Furthermore, finding new revenue streams is equally important to songwriters as sync (31%), while 29% are looking to improve their songwriting skills. Interestingly, 23% are looking to build a social following to help them attract collaborators, build fandom, and secure more revenue opportunities.
Sought after tools
Listen up publishers. The songwriters surveyed most want tools and services to help them with sync pitching (59%), building a brand and image (38%), and building connections to collaborators (35%).
Another consistent theme of the report, songwriters are also seeking services that help them to build a brand and image, both for building external fandom and a network within the music industry.
While the recorded music industry has responded to the increasing needs of artists with an ever-increasing offering of artist services companies, the same is not true for songwriters. Does this represent a huge opportunity for the publishing market?
