Tidal has hit a recorded 3 million subscribers, which doesn’t even include trial users. The news comes a day before Tidal’s one year anniversary.

Of those 3 million subscribers, around half of them are paying $19.99 for the Hi-Fi tier as opposed to $9.99 for the basic tier, at least according to Billboard.

That suggests a premium crowd, and 3 million active paying users is a major milestone for the service.  In September of last year, the service celebrated hitting 1 million subscribers, yet 6 months later that figure has tripled.  Tidal has also improved its catalog of songs, and now boasts more than 40 million tracks.

+ Which Is the Best Streaming Music Service?

There’s little doubt that streaming exclusives like Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo had a positive impact on subscriber numbers.  Indeed, many have presumed that Kanye single-handedly doubled the number of Tidal subscribers.  Though the service has some way to go to match giants like Spotify (30 million subscribers) and Apple Music (11 million), Tidal has come a long way from its niche Norwegian roots.

Equally impressive is that Tidal has been growing significantly, despite a head-to-head content with powerhouse Apple Music.  Apple entered the streaming market last July, swiping up over 11 million subscribers within approximately 9 months.  But Tidal is rallying higher-end audiophiles, not to mention the support of artists themselves.

Aside from the rising subscriber numbers, Tidal has also finally released streaming numbers for Kanye’s The Life of Pablo (earlier, the service withheld streaming numbers from Nielsen Music for unknown reasons).  The stats?  Tidal said Kanye’s album was streamed over 250 million times in 10 days. 

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Exhibit A: Estimated number of paying streaming music subscribers vs. ad-supported free users (Worldwide, 2015).

Exhibit B: Estimated revenues created by paying streaming subscribers vs. ad-supported free users (Worldwide, 2015).

Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reaffirmed that vinyl records are generating more revenue than free, ad-supported streaming users.  But that is less of a reflection on how much money vinyl is making, a more a reflection of just how little money ad-supported music streaming actually generates.

These are just estimates, though despite a free, ad-supported streaming music crowd that accounts for approximately 94% of all music streaming users worldwide, the revenues generated by that mass is just 24% of the on-demand streaming music pie (internet radio isn’t included in this analysis).

Based on a running estimate of approximately 50 million, full-paying streaming music subscribers worldwide (with Spotify now contributing 30 million of those), total revenues land at roughly $5.643 billion.

The Methodology.

Here’s the breakdown on how we built these estimates:

I. Total, paying streaming music users.

In 2014, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) estimated a total of 41 million paying, on-demand streaming subscribers.  That likely includes a number of bundled or lower-paying subscribers, though 50 million is now a ‘working average’ based on the following reports from major services:

• Spotify: 30 million paying (reported last week)
• Tidal: 1 million (last reported)
• Apple Music: 11 million (last reported)
• Deezer: approx. 3 million (based on IPO filings)
• Rhapsody: approx. 3.5 million reported (with heavy mobile bundling).
• YouTube Red: unreported (assumed near-zero in early stages)
• SoundCloud: 0 (just launched Tuesday)

Those numbers, coupled with a few others, brings the working total of paying subscribers to roughly 50 million.

II. Revenues from paying subscribers.

In its 2015 report this month, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) estimated revenues of approximately $1.219 billion based on an average paid subscriber base of 10.8 million (averaged over the year).  Extrapolate that to 50 million, and the revenue figure moves to $5.643 billion.

III. Estimated free streaming users.

This is a bit tricky, and relies on some liberal assumptions, but:

• YouTube: 1 billion estimated users, with an estimated 40+% of content involving music or music videos (depending on the research report).  A loose estimate of the total users accessing music content is about 500 million (or 50%).
• Spotify: estimated 70 million free users (picking apart public statements from Spotify executives)
• Tidal, Apple Music: effectively 0 free users (ignoring trial users)
• SoundCloud: self-reported 175 million active free users (and currently, 0 paid on the consumer side).

The revenues from free streaming users are based on RIAA figures of $385.1 million for 2015, using the same worldwide extrapolation for worldwide premium revenues.

The post The Difference Between Music Fans That Pay, and Music Fans That Don’t appeared first on Digital Music News.

A US federal judge has now allowed a massive, $250 million defamation lawsuit against the makers of ‘Straight Outta Compton’ to proceed.

The lawsuit, filed by original N.W.A manager Jerry Heller last fall, alleges defamation for wantonly fabricating falsehoods in one of the biggest films of 2015.  The complaint, originally lodged on October 30th, 2015 in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, contained an amazing 29 different instances of defamation in ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ with damages that could reach an estimated $250 million.

November 2nd, 2015: “29 Reasons Why Jerry Heller Is Suing the Producers of ‘Straight Outta Compton’“

Now, US District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald has allowed that suit to move forward, despite considerable reservations and a motion by NBCUniversal to dismiss.  In his decision, Fitzgerald indicated that Heller would encounter ‘some real trouble’ securing damages, while permitting an amended complaint to shuttle the case forward.

A major issue is that Heller is considered a public figure, a situation that introduces a number of additional protections against defamation under California laws.  Additionally, the broad cast of defendants, including NBCUniversal, have argued that the situations surrounding the rise of N.W.A are subject to considerable interpretation.  Indeed, Fitzgerald noted that Heller himself has injected himself into the fog of information, partly by authoring a book on the matter.

Issues tied to procedure have also been introduced, with broad, scattershot approach potentially drawing rebuke.  The massive defendant list also director F. Gary Gray, a number of different screenwriters, Legendary Pictures, the estate of Eazy E, as well as members of the rap group itself.  “The possibility of sanctions hangs over this case… if Heller can’t provide specific allegations to each of the defendants,” Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter noted.

Then, there are issues related to defamation suits themselves, including the massive costs of creating them.  “Defamation lawsuits are a game for kings,” noted music industry attorney Steve Gordon, who also added the old legal adage, “it’s not defamation if it’s true.”  Whether Heller’s allegations are true is a matter for a judge (and possibly, jury), though the possibility of receiving $250 million in damages seem slim.

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