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frontline T
here has been so much going on in the digital landscape of late, many things have perhaps not had the attention they deserve. While the
wars are very much raging in the streaming world, there is much-needed innovation taking place across some platforms in areas such as monetisation, not directly linked to rates per stream. These are often overlooked, but I believe
they are things we should be pushing for across all DSPs. Outside of cash money, what these services have that we need is data and infrastructure. If used correctly and effectively these features have the potential to provide serious value far beyond what you would gain per stream. There’s a reason we all spend so much on advertising on these platforms, but they’re increasingly under fire and as a result are starting to roll out some brilliant tools that can be utilised as part of a successful marketing and monetisation plan. These incremental revenue streams are not only vital to the ever-evolving music industry landscape, but they play a crucial part in the future. Ignore them at your peril. It’s very easy to dismiss these tools as ways for platforms to get away without paying properly for content but that is, in my opinion, shortsighted and not always true. Sure, they’re making money from it but if you are, or you represent a creator, depending on your partner deal terms, they offer vast potential to increase your revenue and your connection with your fanbase.
The opportunities that are emerging
across the globe for digital monetisation of consumers on social networks and DSPs are limitless and some are already well established markets – including gaming – and widely adopted across Asia. The West is only just starting to understand the value here and it is applicable beyond the music business. Rather than dismissing these tools as simply a distraction from streaming rates, I would strongly advise artists and managers to view them as your chance to make (potentially quite serious amounts of) money outside of your existing deals – as long as you have retained the right to do so. There are certainly labels who are after a bite of this cherry and some contractually have a right not only to that bite but the whole bowl. I’ve often touched on what I believe to be the best and most practical tools on the market, but here I’m going to have a little deep dive into one platform in particular and regular readers will know that they’re not usually top of my list… YouTube. Honestly, blink and you’ll miss the amount of things they’ve been up to lately. Many of us have long argued that the true
potential for YouTube to monetise fanbases outside of ads and views was underdeveloped, and I have spent many nights drunk with
musicweek.com
Deviate Digital CEO Sammy Andrews guides you through the ever-changing tech world...
MONETISING FANBASES
You got it: YouTube have introduced new features to help artists monetise their fanbases
will change that. Creators who are eligible for monetisation will be able to add this to their pre-recorded and uploaded content. When activated an “Applaud” button will be visible on the video, when clicked this gives the user an option to donate $2, $5, $10 or $50. YouTube takes 30% of the revenue from both this and Super Chat but creators take the rest.
LIVESTREAMS ON THE GOOGLE SEARCH KNOWLEDGE GRAPH PANEL This is a great new feature. If you’re running a livestream and people head to Google to find it, the event will now show in the search Knowledge Graph panel (the info snapshots that appear on the right). It is lovely bit of SEO goodness.
LIVESTREAM NOTIFICATIONS This is a really nice and overdue feature to make the most of bringing existing fans into the livestream experience. I’ve seen a few mock-ups of the functionality, but it is not online at time of writing. Anything that leads a fan to a livestream offers the potential to monetise further through other mechanics.
monetisation of consumers
“Opportunities for digital
are limitless” SAMMY ANDREWS DEVIATE DIGITAL
friends from Google arguing about their lack of innovation in this space. So, let’s have a look at some of the things that they’re knocking out the park at the moment...
YOUTUBE APPLAUSE This feature was announced recently and is currently in a very limited beta test, but YouTube plan to roll it out to all creators later in the year. Until now, fans have only really been able to – for want of a better word – tip a creator via Super Chat (more below). But that feature has been limited to livestreams. Applause
SUPER CHAT AND SUPER STICKERS These are starting to see real uptake and can be a very lucrative addition to livestreams. Super Chat gives fans and artists a way to connect with one another during livestreams and premieres. Anybody watching can purchase a Super Chat, a highlighted message in the chat that stands out from the crowd, to get even more of their favourite artists’ attention. Fans will also be able to buy Super Stickers to connect with artists during eligible artists’ livestreams and premieres.
CHANNEL MEMBERSHIPS Memberships viewers pay a monthly recurring fee to get unique badges, new emojis and access to unique custom perks offered by the channel, such as exclusive livestreams, extra videos, or shoutouts.
YOUTUBE MERCH I was pained at how long it took for this feature to come to YouTube. We as an industry were shouting about it for a few years before it finally arrived, but it’s there now. You can now offer this fully integrated
into livestreams already, and rumour has it they are looking to expand beyond just using Merchbar (I can hear the shouts of joy from here). Let’s hope those rumours are true.
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