Who's The Biggest Label?

With the latest Nielsen music figures in for 2015, we begin to see the full picture of the music industry. One piece is how the major labels fit into the grand scheme of things, and Nielsen kindly hands us that info in a very digestible way.

So what's the market share of the majors and indies?

1. Universal Music Group has the largest market share by far at 38.5%

2. Sony Music is second at 29.5%

3. Warner Music Group comes in last at 18.7%.

4. Indie labels come in last at 12.6% of the market.

Indie labels can be looked at another way though. That 12.6% is for labels that are wholly operated and distributed. If you look add indie labels who have distribution through one of the majors, you find that their market share soars to 34.4% of the business.

Although most of the money is made by the 3 remaining majors, indie labels are still the lifeblood of the industry, and play an important part in the development of new artists.

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Spotify Gaining Ground On YouTube

While YouTube is still the king of the online music stream, it looks like Spotify is gaining ground, a development that might mean more money to songwriters, artists, labels and publishers alike.

According to Billboard, the on-demand streaming marketplace has risen by 50% in 2014. This means that Spotify has delivered about 413 million streams this year so far as compared to 274 million in 2013.

Spotify's market share in the streaming market has gone from 22% to 33% this year while YouTube's has decreased from 66% to 58%. That said, 91% of all on-demand streaming traffic is from these two services.

One of the more interesting aspects of YouTube's market share is that it can fluctuate greatly depending upon the posting of a hot new video. For instance, there was a large spike in activity in August when Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" and Nicki Manaj's "Anaconda" were released. "In fact, Anaconda" now holds the Vevo record for most views in 24 hours at 19.6 global views.

With the introduction of YouTube's new Music Key streaming service next year, you have to wonder whether the market share numbers will increase at Spotify's expense instead of the current trend. Then again, there's always Apple Beats that can change the equation yet another way when it's released in full in 2015.

One things for sure, the music streaming market will continue to be one of the most interesting aspects of the music business next year.

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