Music E-Commerce Evolution in the Digital Age | WIRED Brand Lab

[upbeat music]

[Narrator] In 2021, $16.9 billion,

65% of total music revenue came from streaming.

Streaming services are now creating

new direct-to-consumer opportunities

between artists and fan,

and increasing urgency for music companies

to improve their e-commerce platforms.

With fans turning to online experiences

to connect with the artists they love,

record labels must shift their commercial focus

to meet fans where they are.

A patchwork of new technologies

are making more intimate experiences possible,

but threading those opportunities

into a cohesive e-commerce strategy

can be a challenge in and of itself.

There's this plethora of new technologies

that are really changing the way

that artists can connect with their fans.

The first is through e-commerce

where we're selling bespoke and innovative products to fans

that they can find nowhere else in the world.

Over time, the artists and fan experience will change.

We'll be more digital, more connected.

We'll have better ways to link

and speak to the fans with what they're ultimately needing.

[Narrator] E-commerce is no longer just online stores

selling physical products.

The music industry is beginning to create global networks

that offer unique experiences to fans

through online-only concerts, backstage experiences,

virtual merchandise,

and images or videos that are sold as NFTs.

For record companies,

this shift in consumer purchases from record sales

to online experiences represents both a challenge

and opportunity.

To help connect artists and fans in new ways,

consulting at EY assists music industry clients

to create global platforms

that can grow the changing digital landscape.

EY has long been thinking about how tech

can create more direct connection to customers

and more modern interaction with them

while expanding relationship with artists.

The music industry

is in a very interesting disruptive mode right now.

People don't want to buy anymore physical things.

They want to buy an experience.

And if you think about that, artists themself,

they are on social media.

They show themselves.

They tell who they are beyond being on the stage.

The winner out there will be the one

that have very solid e-commerce platform,

which are able to capture all the different data,

and at the same time assessing the data,

looking to the data, and creating action from those data.

This is really about understanding the desire,

the preference of the customer, of the fan, in this case,

and then analyzing this data,

harnessing the power of the data,

and creating content and campaign,

which are fit for this customer.

The new ways to connect between an artist and a fan

are here to stay.

A more digital, more engaging,

and more interactive experience

is what we as, consumers, are looking for.

[Narrator] EY technology is the groundwork

for the next generation customer experience,

strengthens the artist fan connection,

and prepares global companies

to seize new innovations across the digital landscape.