the Trapital Report is here!

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Happy Halloween! Later today I'll take our daughter out to trick-or-treat. She has cute Care Bear outfit so we're excited to roam the neighborhood.​​

Today I’m excited to share our second annual Trapital Report. This is our breakdown on the most important trends in music, media, and culture.

This year you have two options:

1. ​Download the free preview report version
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2. Buy the full premium report, with more insights on engaging superfans, TikTok and short-form video, breaking through the noise with new artists, music consumer behavioral trends, and more
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   The premium report also comes with an option for a 45-min call with me and the Audience Strategies team to answer your questions.
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   ​You can buy the full premium report here​

In today's memo, we included a preview at one of our report sections. But first, here's a word from The Trapital Report's presenting sponsor, DICE.

SPONSORED

an alternative in the world of ticketing

Listen, buying concert tickets can feel like a project for your fans. They have to navigate through bots, resellers, and fees. Sometimes they may not know their favorite artist came to town until after. It makes the transition from ‘URL to IRL’ an expensive hassle, just like we discussed in this report!

​That's where DICE comes in. The platform makes it easy to find live shows and get tickets. No filler. A friend of mine just used DICE to see Green Day’s cover band project in San Francisco, and told me how easy it was.

DICE partners with top artists, promoters, and venues across the world, like Public Records, Knockdown Center, Sound Nightclub, and more. With DICE’s hyper-targeted campaigns, they can sell out events in less than an hour to a packed room of each artist’s superfans.

Want to learn more about how DICE can partner with you?

why hip-hop dominates streaming but not live

The most popular genre on streaming is hip-hop and R&B. Despite the two genre’s decline in share of revenue for the second straight year, it’s still the most-streamed genre with 27% share of recorded music revenue.

But the dynamic is flipped in live music. Hip-hop and R&B account for just 11% of U.S. concert revenue, less than half its share of its streaming revenue. Meanwhile, pop and rock account for 27% of U.S. concert revenue compared to 33% of streaming revenue. It's much more in line with the combined genre's streaming performance.

I've said it before. Streams don't always correlate to ticket sales. There are plenty of legacy rock-and-roll acts whose new albums don’t stream as much but still tour worldwide in stadiums. Meanwhile, there are several artists who can top the streaming charts but struggle to sell out shows.

Hip-hop however, has been subject to additional challenges over the years that speak to the decline.

Age

Hip-hop and R&B are younger genres with younger fanbases. Rappers didn’t consistently tour on a global arena level until the 2000s. The live audience skews much older than the streaming audience. Live music also tracks more with U.S. demographics. Black people, who over-index on hip-hop and R&B, account for 12% of the U.S. population.

Historical and racial bias

Concert promoters were hesitant to promote rap due to “safety concerns,” even though rock concerts often had worse violence. These setbacks had compounding effects. It takes several tours to develop global fanbases.

The 1999 Hard Knock Life Tour was one of the first times that a pure rap show did a U.S. nationwide arena tour. But on a global level, it wasn't until Jay Z's 2008 Live Nation deal that hip-hop truly became a consistent, worldwide touring product.

Development

Due to Age and Historical bias, there was less time spent developing hip-hop and R&B artists to be strong touring acts. Many popular hip-hop and R&B acts still rely on festival runs, nightclub appearances, and small private shows.

So now, when touring has become one of the most lucrative revenue streams for many artists, the genre is behind relative to others.

Price and willingness to pay

Live music ticket prices and costs are rising. Streaming is a cheaper way to experience music. Hip-hop and R&B music festivals, like Lovers & Friends, Day N Vegas, and Rolling Loud are an economical way to see these acts in real life, but there’s a tradeoff. These acts don't earn as much as they could had they had the opportunity to invest in their touring product.

In my research for this report, I reached out to several industry insiders and asked, "Besides Beyonce and The Weeknd, can any other Black artist headline a U.S. nationwide stadium tour across the country?" The most common answer was Drake, who once announced a stadium run but later scaled back to arenas. Sources claim that Drake prefers the arena experience for his fans.

That may be true. But I'm still waiting to see a solo hip-hop artist make that leap. The rising tide lifts all boats.

Hope you enjoyed that section! The full report has more insights on:

• how the industry can grow the pie through superfans and gen AI
• audience profiles on the pop and hip-hop consumer
• the most valuable songs on Spotify and YouTube
• case studies on LaRussell and Vérité

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​​​Download the free preview​
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​OR

​Buy the premium Trapital Report​

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Copy and paste this message into your Twitter or LinkedIn, or social media post so your community can read it too:

Check out The Culture Report, from Trapital, a breakdown on key insights in music, hip-hop, and more. Download a free copy of the report here:

​https://trapital.ck.page/a6a89d42f9​

Big thanks to our sponsors, DICE, Downtown, and Audiense. Thank you to Simon Jacobs, David Boyle, and Michael Jones for your help with data and editing. And thank you Luminate, Pollstar, and others who shared their data and offered feedback along the way.

money moves

• 99-year-old Charlie Munger’s first-ever podcast interview​
• ​Taylor Swift and Magic Johnson named billionaires
• can brands copy the ‘Barbie’ model​
• Apple’s impact in music over the years

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