Music publishers have declared war against Spotify — and the reason is bundling. But what are the other DSPs doing? Now, there’s a chart for that: The Bundling Barometer from DMN Pro.
For the average consumer, bundling is a part of daily life. Whether a six-pack of Negro Modelo or a bundled vacation package to Europe, tying products together into a handy bundle is a well-worn business practice.
Shift over to the music industry, however, and bundling is demonstrably impacting music publishers and their revenues. According to the latest Bundling Barometer reading, an astounding 98% of Spotify premium plans are now classified as bundles. That will translate into losses of several hundred million dollars over the next few years.
But what are the other streaming music platforms doing?
Hint: Spotify isn’t alone when it comes to bundling. Another major streaming music platform is also ramping up bundled packages past the 70% mark. Others could copy Spotify’s shift, resulting in hundreds of millions of additional lost revenues for music publishers.
Here’s a quick look at where major streaming platforms currently stand on bundling.
The Bundling Barometer, a US-based chart from DMN Pro, is sourced from actual mechanical publishing statements shared with Digital Music News.
The chart also includes critical fields to help the music industry better understand the bundling practices of major DSPs, including:
- Total number of DSP subscribers technically bucketed into ‘bundles’ for publishing royalty calculations.
- A breakdown of overall bundled subscribers, including those not technically classified as bundled for royalty accounting purposes.
- A calculation of the percentage of total DSP subscribers this all translates into.
- A look at month-by-month shifts and changes in bundling calculations for the top DSPs.
Currently, The Bundling Barometer tracks four major DSPs, which account for more than 97% of the total subscriber market: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
The remaining DSPs, which account for a small but important remainder of the market, will be added in subsequent chart updates later in 2024.
The Bundling Barometer is just one of several databases now offered by DMN Pro, a premium, subscription-only music industry platform from Digital Music News. Other DMN Pro databases and charts include:
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Streaming Music Subscriber Market Share Breakdown (US)
A breakdown of US-based subscribers for all major streaming music platforms (DSPs) and subscription types.
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Streaming Audio Fidelity & Pricing Tracker
What streaming platforms are offering in terms of audio fidelity and associated pricing.
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Music IP Acquisition Tracker
A rundown of music IP purchases across publishing, recording, and other rights.
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The Music Industry Funding Tracker
A compendium of music industry funding rounds across every sub-sector and investment stage.
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New Music Release Tracker
The 100 most notable new music releases across all genres and countries.
DMN Pro subscribers have complete access to these databases, plus weekly research reports and other informational deep-dives. These include data unavailable on any other platform — free or paid.
Join the music industry’s fastest-growing, most informative data source. Subscribe to DMN Pro today!
