Trapital - spotify vs youtube

spotify vs youtube

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Hey! It’s pretty impressive that Drake and 21 Savage announced an album on one week’s notice and got half a billion streams in a week. I’m sure that Drake’s shots helped boost those streams.

This is now Drake’s third album in 14 months. He signed that big-time deal earlier this year and now he drops nonstop like 1998 No Limit. The Drake fan in me still wants another great one. One more like Nothing Was The Same. But now that the economics are in Drake’s favor, I can’t blame him.

This memo is about Spotify and YouTube. This was the main topic of the latest Trapital Podcast. The first part of the episode is with MIDiA Research’s Tati Cirisano. We talked about Spotify, YouTube, and what their billions club playlists say about their strategy. The second part is with Billboard’s Glenn Peoples. We talk about his Global Music Index and why several music stocks are down more than the overall market in 2022. Let’s dive in!

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what Spotify and YouTube’s billions playlists tell us about streaming

Spotify still is the music industry’s leading source of revenue, but YouTube wants that title. If you read any posts from YouTube’s Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen, the message is loud and clear. Since both companies generate most of that revenue from their biggest hits, their “billions” lists are great indicators of what success looks like on each platform.

​Spotify’s billion streams playlist and YouTube’s billions views club have plenty of overlap among their 300+ songs. Some songs are hits on any platform, but the differences are a rearview look at their strategies so far.

Spotify: more English-speaking, more passive

Spotify’s paid service grew first in the U.S. and U.K., and it shows. Songs like Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Under The Bridge,” and Future’s “Mask Off” have nearly twice as many Spotify streams as their music videos have YouTube views. These songs were huge U.S. radio hits, which overlaps more with Spotify listening. As MIDiA Research points out, listening to music is often a background activity compared to watching music videos, which is more active.

If YouTube reflects more active consumption, then an easy takeaway is that the video platform is a better indicator of what people actually want to listen to. But it’s not that simple. Music is passive and flexible by nature. A song that can play at the club, on the radio, at a coffee shop, or during your workout is the dream. That’s a five-tool song right there. Spotify can check more boxes than YouTube can. Plus, not every hit single has a music video. Beyonce has made us patiently wait for Renaissance music videos that may not come for all we know.

For many English-speaking songs, a song that does much better on Spotify than on YouTube may be a reflection of the music video itself.

YouTube has fewer songs from the 70s and 80s on its list than Spotify. Pre-MTV music videos didn’t get multi-million dollar Hype Williams-level budgets as they did at the height of the CD era. And songs like “Iris,” “Under The Bridge,” and “Mask Off” don’t have memorable videos.

But where Spotify plays reflect its large English-speaking customer base, YouTube makes up for in global presence.

YouTube: more global, more niche, more memes

J Balvin has 11 music videos on YouTube’s list (tied with Justin Bieber for the most), but only has four on Spotify’s list. The first-ever YouTube music video to top one billion streams was the K-pop viral sensation, “Gangnam Style,” which isn’t close to a billion on Spotify. YouTube is more global. It’s a free platform that initially pushed reach and access over paid subscriptions. YouTube’s video mix is where Spotify wants to get to.

YouTube is also more closely tied to memes. Remember all the videos from the “Black Beatles” mannequin challenge? That can’t happen on Spotify. Also, a song like Nelly and Kelly Rowland’s “Dilemma” can hit one billion YouTube views solely because of that moment where Kelly uses a flip phone to send a text on… Microsoft Excel! An unforgettable moment, truly.

On our podcast episode, Tati made a great point about audience building on both platforms:

Look at NBA YoungBoy. He releases his music first as YouTube videos. He uses algorithms to find his niche and serve his most loyal fans. It’s one of the reasons why he’s the second-most streamed artist of 2022, but if you’re someone who reads Trapital regularly, I doubt you could name two songs by him. That’s by design. He monetizes niche first on YouTube, then monetizes scale on all platforms.

streams aren’t that correlated with concert ticket sales

One of the standouts from the list is Justin Bieber. He has 11 YouTube music videos and 10 Spotify songs on the billions lists. That’s more combined than any other artist.

Not gonna lie, if you asked me to guess the artist who has the most on both lists, I would have guessed at least five names before I said Bieber. Especially since he downsized his last planned tour from stadiums to arenas due to low ticket sales. But it’s another reminder that streams and tickets aren’t that correlated.

Tati brought up a good point about Justin’s early days on YouTube. He posted all those cover songs as a teenager, which attracted many young fans. Bieber’s songs dominate on streaming and social, more than almost anyone. But I bet that the average Belieber has less willingness and ability to pay hundreds of dollars for a concert. Especially compared to an artist like Lady Gaga, whose recent album sales don’t touch Bieber, but Gaga just concluded a tour herself.

On the episode, Tati and I talked even more about Spotify vs YouTube and what to expect. I also talked to Billboard’s Glenn Peoples about his new Global Music Index and the state of music stocks overall.

Listen to our full conversation here:

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