NEW OPERA ACHIEVES ROCK STAR STATUS

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NEW OPERA ACHIEVES ROCK STAR STATUS

It's the sort of statistic that music promoters dream of. An audience of ten thousand in less than one hour, and for a first-time performance. But this massive audience didn't turn up to watch a new boy band or the latest rap sensation, they came to the opera!

A brand new opera called Spring Street is set in Manhattan, and it mixes classical arias, string quartets, jazz, blues and even acid rock. The opera was streamed on Jeeni, the self-styled "ethical alternative" to the big streaming giants, and opera composer Pete Wyer is ecstatic about Jeeni’s methodology and success. “I’m really thrilled. My expectation was we’d get to the magic 10,000 mark in a month, but this is quite incredible - especially when I compare it to operas I’ve had performed on stage! Without Jeeni’s help my piece might be languishing with a few hundred hits.”

Wyer is being modest. An award-winning composer for the English National Ballet and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, his biggest audience before the Jeeni event was when 60,000 people enjoyed his celebration Liverpool waterfront concert, and the performance and publicity costs for that were considerable. By contrast, the Jeeni audience for his new event has already topped 66,000 and the costs have been zero. Everything has been achieved by the publicity and marketing systems built in to the Jeeni platform, which makes it unique when compared with the likes of Spotify or Netflix. Pete Wyer continues, "I looked at the Jeeni platform doing really good work for independent artists, and the more I learned the more I liked. It's been a very happy experience."

The opera stars the soprano and triple-GRAMMY award-winner Maren Montalbano, who says, "Power is shifting from large organisations to the individual, and platforms like Jeeni are on the rise because they give artists the opportunity to lift themselves up and lift each other up." Her co-star, the bass-baritone and Netflix superhero Heday Inoue adds, "Jeeni is allowing us to have more exposure. I think it's amazing, and I'm really, really happy to be part of it." What is even more amazing is the fact that the cast and musicians have never actually met except on the Jeeni platform. Everything was composed, rehearsed and performed remotely in lockdown.

Jeeni founder Shena Mitchell says, “When we first launched Jeeni a few months ago, it took days to hit audience figures of ten thousand for an online concert or festival, and I was delighted with that. But here we are, achieving the same thing in under an hour, and for an unknown opera. Imagine what we can do next. We already have more than two thousand artist showcases and an audience outreach of over two million."

Now Jeeni.com needs to scale up to meet the technical demands for handling more artists and bigger audiences, so they have turned to crowdfunding. Shena Mitchell says, "Everybody knows that the big streaming companies rip artists off. We don't do that. Our artists keep 100% of everything they earn with us. Now we are allowing the public to invest as little as £10 to buy a part of us, and own a stake in what could be the ethical future of entertainment.”

More information:

shena@jeeni.com
jeeni.com/invest
jeeni.com/springstreet

*Capital at Risk

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07
Dec

Streaming Revenues - a tipping point?

At Jeeni, this is a subject we are following closely, being a platform set up to address this very subject. The balance of revenue on most platforms, is tipped far too heavily away from the artists, performers and writers, in favour of the suits and pen-pushers. Quite frankly, it's a disgrace! Jeeni's ethos is to ensure any performing members receive 100% of the revenue they generate. Should all streaming services work the same way? Journalist Dylan Smith, from Digital Music News has written the article below, updating how far the DCMS Committee has got with their fact finding and the issues to be presented on 11 December. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Chair Julian Knight. Photo Credit: David Woolfall British lawmakers have stated that artists are hesitant to participate in the ongoing investigation into streaming royalties “because they fear action may be taken against them” if they do so. The House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS Committee) announced the high-profile probe of streaming royalties last month. The comprehensive analysis aims to identify streaming’s impact on all relevant stakeholders, including labels and artists, as well as its long-term effects concerning “the sustainability of the wider music industry.” Last week, singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, and Elbow frontman Guy Garvey spoke before the DCMS Committee to address the contemporary music landscape. Of particular note was Shah’s statement that she doesn’t “make enough money from streaming” to cover her rent, despite having north of 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Possibly in response to the abundance of information that the investigation has turned up thus far, the DCMS Committee also announced last week that it had extended the window for artists and others to submit written testimonials regarding royalties. From the original deadline of Monday, November 16th, members of the music industry now have until Friday, December 11th, to express their opinions. The probe’s upcoming oral testimony, for its part, is slated to take place next Tuesday, December 8th, with Maria Forte Music Services’ namesake owner, Ferocious Talent owner Kwame Kwaten, and José Luis Sevillano, director general at Spain’s AIE, set to participate via livestream. Ahead of the formal sitdown, DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight has relayed that many would-be witnesses are opting not to come forward due to their fear of the potential professional consequences associated with speaking out against streaming royalties. “We have been told from many different sources that some of the people interested in speaking to us, in relation to this inquiry, have become reluctant to do so because they fear action may be taken against them if they speak in public,” said the Solihull MP, who became the DCMS Committee’s chair in January of this year. “I would like to say on behalf of the Committee that we would take a very dim view indeed if we had any evidence of anyone interfering with witnesses to one of our inquiries. … This Committee will brook no such interference and will not hesitate to name and shame anyone proven to be involved in such activity,” continued Knight. And in concluding his statement on the matter, the lawmaker emphasized that others who reach out to the DCMS Committee with information or insight pertaining to streaming royalties “will be treated in confidence.”

06
Jun

Portsmouth-based music platform gears up

Jeeni, the Portsmouth-based music tech start-up, has raised over £230,000 to support unsigned artists and performers achieve their dream. Today, Jeeni has returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds and help the cause. Founding director Mel Croucher says, “We are ahead of our original schedule, yet there is still so much more to accomplish. We need to scale our online platform globally, build our mass artist showcases, and achieve our foreign language roll-out. Then we can hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Jeeni is launching their next generation platform online, with over 27,500 artists and performers subscribe to their database, and will start trading ahead of schedule. Along with Mel Croucher, who founded the UK leisure software industry, Jeeni was co-founded by Shena Mitchell, who has already raised over £20million for start-up businesses in the Solent area. They have created a formidable management team including Roger Watson, the record-label boss responsible for over 500 million record sales, Kelli Richards, who worked with Steve Jobs for over 10 years and launched Apple Music, Eddie Levy, the founder of ATV Music who owned The Beatles catalogue, and Danielle Woodyatt, former Head of Global Communications at Virgin. Jeeni is also supported by celebrity ambassadors, including John Altman, conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tony Klinger, producer for The Who, and Dee “Thunderbirds” Anderson. Jeeni’s Shena Mitchell urges Portsmouth-based businesses and investors to take a look at the campaign and support the development and global roll-out of Jeeni. She says: “We are raising £100k for 2.4% with our pre-money valuation at £4M. So if you want to support a Portsmouth-based tech start-up to harness the wealth of genuine unsigned talent, then get in touch.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Contact details: shena@jeeni.com

05
Jun

Global Online Music Streaming Grew 32% to over 350 Million Subscriptions in 2019

By Abhilash Kumar Spotify continues to be the market leader and recorded a 23% YoY growth in total revenue during CY 2019.Music streamers are focusing on creating exclusive content with podcasts continuing to feature strongly in 2020. Seoul, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Beijing, London, Buenos Aires, San Diego – 3rd April 2020 Global online music streaming subscriptions grew 32% year-on-year (YoY) reaching 358 million subscriptions in CY 2019, according to the latest findings from Counterpoint Research. This is driven by the availability of exclusive content like podcasts, originals which attracted people towards the platform and eventually turned them as subscribers. Also, promotional activities like price cuts in subscriptions in emerging markets, bundled offers from telcos added to the growth. We expect that online music streaming subscriptions to grow more than 25% YoY to exceed 450 million subscriptions by the end of 2020. Commenting on the overall market, Research Analyst, Abhilash Kumar, said, “Paid subscriptions grew 32% YoY compared to 23% YoY growth of total MAUs. This suggests people are ready to pay for music streaming for a hassle-free experience. However, this is not completely user-driven. Music streaming platforms are following a two-step approach to gain subscribers, first registering them to their platform as free users by means of excellent advertising campaigns and secondly pitching them with attractive offers to transfer them to become paying subscribers.” Spotify topped CY 2019 grabbing a 31% share of the total revenue and a 35% share of the total paid subscriptions. The runner up, Apple Music, follows with a 24% share of total revenues in the industry and a 19% share of the total paid subscriptions. Due to Apple’s high focus on its services segment which includes Apple Music, its subscription base grew 36% YoY in CY 2019. Amazon Music subscriptions reached a 15% share in 2019 compared to 10% in 2018. Talking about the top performers, Kumar added, “Spotify maintained its top spot with the help of promotional activities like free Spotify Premium for three months, price cuts, customized campaigns like Spotify and a focus on exclusive content. Tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google have started focusing on music streaming and have sufficient cash at their disposal to give stiff competition to Spotify. Apple Music is making improvements in its app like the introduction of night mode, curated playlists to target a group, etc. Similarly, Amazon Music has been trying lossless music and is creating its own niche where it competes with Tidal.” Despite global players strongly pushing their music streaming platforms, regional players stand strong in their respective regions, primarily because of regional exposure and high focus on local content. Gaana continues to be the no.1 player in the Indian market, Yandex Music is leading in Russia. Similarly, Anghami leads the Arab world. Tencent Music Group leads the China market with the help of its apps QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo. Discussing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the OTT industry, Kumar added, “We expect the OTT sector will experience an uptick as people stay at home actively tracking the latest updates. During this outbreak, audio OTT consumption has switched from music streaming to the radio. People in highly affected areas are worried about the outbreak and are therefore continuously tuned to news on TV/radio for updates. The traction of news channels and podcasts saw an upswing while that for music streaming dropped.” What’s common is that both the regional and global players are focusing a lot on building exclusive content. Acquiring podcast companies and creating their own channels are all being undertaken. It’s often exclusive content that drives paid subscription growth. More than 80% of music streaming revenue came from paid subscriptions. The rest came from advertisements and partnerships with brands and telcos. Therefore, increasing paid subscriptions is of prime importance for music streaming platforms. The comprehensive and in-depth chain of reports on Global Online Music Streaming Market for Q4 2019 is available to help track the market in terms of MAUs by region, paid subscriptions by region, revenues, and ARPU. To view the global report in terms of users, revenues and ARPU, click here. For regional analysis on MAUs and paid subscriptions, click here. Please contact press(at)counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth research, insights or other press inquiries. Background: Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in Technology products in the TMT industry. It services major technology firms and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analysis of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are experts in the industry with an average tenure of 13 years in the high-tech industry. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

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