Should music streaming be treated like radio? And what does it mean if it is? Expert analysis from Stuart Dredge, Music Ally's Head of Insight, who explores the legal and philosophical consequences
Ep 119: Every time our Head of Insight appears on the podcast, people say how useful they find his analysis – so we're bringing Stuart Dredge back again to answer a thorny question: “is music streaming like radio?”. Stuart explains why this simple-sounding question is actually quite complex and how it could raise a number of fundamental legal issues around payments to artists and rightsholders. Streaming platforms have always provided radio-like experiences: whether something simple like "lean back" listening – where you hit play and the platform chooses what music you hear – or more overt concepts like Spotify's new AI DJ, creating what is a recognisable personalised radio-like experience. So at what point should streaming music be classed as "radio"? Moreover, streaming services want to compete with regular radio, to attract its listeners and advertisers. What does it mean, then, if streaming and radio's boundaries are blurring? Editor Joe Sparrow puts these questions, and more, to Stuart. ------ 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo 🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth £399/year, via our corporate and sponsored subscriptions. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: musically.com/subscription-options Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musically/message