During the past decades, the music industry has pivoted from vinyls to cassettes and CD's to streaming — and it continues to develop together with our evolving listening and music consumption habits. In 2024, for example the use of the AI and various new ways of content creation affect and shape the industry continuously. And fortunately — there are no signs of our listening slowing down. In 2023 global music consumption grew at double digit rate, with streaming hitting whopping records.
For music industry to thrive, we need not only artists, musicians, composers, and songwriters, but also innovation, technology, and entrepreneurs in music. In this article we discuss and summarize the key discussion points of music tech and music tech trends 2024, based on what was discussed at #musictech at Slush 2024 event in Helsinki. At #musictech some of the brightest minds of the industry — experts, entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders — gathered to share knowledge on music tech's trends and hot topics, in the slushy framework of November Helsinki.
What is #musictech at Slush 2024?
#musictech at Slush is the premier event at the intersection of music, technology, and global business, and serves as the official music vertical of Slush, Europe’s leading tech conference. The event was held in the central Helsinki at Apollo Live Club on November 20th, 2024. #musictech featured a stellar line up of speakers — from startups to VC's and investors and music tech specialists, for example from the areas of law and licensing.
The #musictech line-up included 25 speakers — each one an expert on their spesific field. The event featured for example Tom Höglund of Epidemic Sound, Fred Davis from Raine Group, Andrea Rosen from Best Nights VC, Takayuki Suzuki from MusicTech Japan, Phil Hutcheon from DICE, Ola Sars from Soundtrack, and Siegfried Paquet from StealthWrks, to name a few.
The event gathered 700 participants from music executives to artists and music entrepreneurs for 10 keynotes and panel discussions about various topics in music, tech, and music tech.
What was then discussed at the event? Here are the top 4 takeaways.
4 top themes about music tech
At #musictech, the discussion was vigorous as all the panelists and keynote spakers contributed with their own expertise to the themes discussed. The sessions included discussions about ecosystems, funding, licensing, building companies, and scaling.
Check the full program here 👉 musictech.live
1) Licensing — the hot topic in the field
Licensing — often considered as the 'unsexy' topic in music tech, was definitely one of the key touchpoints in many discussions during the event. Licesing was mentioned in several of the talks and discussions, highlight being the discussion with Nils Paajanen from Singa and Bill Colitre from Music Reports, as well as Siegfried Paquet's (Stealthwrks) closing remarks.
It became perfectly clear during the event, that licensing is not something to take lightly while building a music startup or working with music in general. When executed correctly, licensing can provide competitive advantage and long-term success for a company.
Licensing isn’t just a checkbox — it's a competitive advantage that, once secured, creates a significant barrier for competitors.
However, the negotiations in music licensing take time, and ofter require external consultancy, advisors, and support. Licensing music rights involves navigating layers of sound recording, publishing, and performance rights. Hence, starting to think and build strategy for licensing early in the process is vital. Licensing isn’t just a checkbox — it's a competitive advantage that, once secured, creates a significant barrier for competitors.
2) Growth Capital — Not just money, but strategic partnerships
Raising capital — a thing in minds of many startups looking to grow and scale. At the #musictech event, both venture capital firms, such as Best Nights VC and EQT Growth, as well as startups who've raised funding (eg. Fave, Epidemic Sound, un:hurd music) were present sharing their knowledge and learnings about raising money.
Some key learnings: raising capital is about more than just money. It’s about finding partners who share your vision and can add strategic value. You should align with investors who understand the music industry’s unique challenges and growth potential. For example licensing and IP compliance are significant barriers to entry, and also valuable selling points for investors.
Some key learnings: raising capital is about more than just money.
As a startup, it can make your life easier, when you have aboard investors who understand your business and the music industry's spesific needs. For example, you might need to budget for advances, royalties, and rights administration and raise extra money for that — make sure your investors are there to support you!
Worth mentioning that raising funding and finding the right investors might not be a walk in the park — it might take more time than you'd think. As Alex Brees (un:hurd music) said in a panel discussion — always be raising — so you won't find yourself empty handed when your company needs to raise the funding round.
3) Scaling as a music startup — the tips from those who've made it
You cannot really spell Slush or #musictech without also mentioning scaling and growth. During the #musictech event, there were impressive growers sharing their story in panels and discussions. Biggest focus on the growth story was in the discussion with William Evensen (EQT Growth) and Tom Höglund (Epidemic Sound), during which Höglund unrolled the growth journey of Epidemic Sound, as well as in the discussion with Phil Hutcheon (DICE) interviewed by Richard Goold (Wilson Sonsini), during which Hutcheon shared the story of DICE, the largest independent concert discovery and ticketing platform.
Learnings? Multiple. Here's some picks based on the talks.
- Ambitious Scaling — think globally but adapt to local markets.
- Strategic Growth — partner with investors who provide more than capital — expertise and networks are equally valuable.
- Focus on Sustainability — balancing profitability with growth ensures longevity in the competitive music tech space.
This is just a glimpse of the vast amount of insights shared during the talks. Next time — you need to hear it yourself.
4) The Music Industry — a robust and evolving industry
The music industry is a robust industry — according to the latest IFPI Global Music Report, global recorded music revenues reached $28.6 billion in 2023, with an impressive growth. As heard at the #musictech event, not many industries have pivoted so many times in the last few decades as the music industry has, from vinyls to streaming and social media use. Though the pandemic hit the music industry hard with limiting our access to concerts, the live music industry jumped back up, after the global pandemic situation easened up.
We're on the verge of the most exciting time in the history of the music business, for artists.
Now, the DIY music sector is booming, with significant growth in direct-to-fan platforms and independent artist revenues, as heard in the keynote by Fred Davis (Raine Group).
With new business models and creator economies, one of the hot terms popping up in the #musictech discussions was also metadata — or, "money data", as it was labeled in the panel discussion between Hans Peter Roth (Muserk), Lucie Caswell (Songtradr), Maxine Brauman (BUMA), and Aga Samitowska (Zaiks Lab). Coherent and accurate metadata is critical to ensuring creators and stakeholders get paid fairly and efficiently.
In 2024, lots of tech trends — such as the AI — affect the entertainment industry. According to the keynote by Fred Davis of Raine Group: we're on the verge of the most exciting time in the history of the music business, for artists.
Did you attend #musictech at Slush? Tell us how you liked it — send us a message.
