Welcome to SWOT by Sound Story, your inside track on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats looming for the creative industries.
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⚡ Trending: More than four years after leaving her role as a Liberal Party media advisor, Brittany Higgins is stepping into a new role. Words by Alexandra Feiam. Source: News.com.au.
🎵 Music: Taylor Swift buys back the rights to the master recordings of her first six albums. Words by Laura Snapes. Source: The Guardian.
📰 Media: Mike Fitzpatrick will be departing from his role at the ABC at the end of this month, marking the close of an 18-month tenure as Head of Capital Networks and Sport. Words by Natasha Lee. Source: Mediaweek.
💰 Advertising: In its most daring campaign to date, Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has launched a 60-second spot featuring full-frontal nudity, exclusively available on the broadcaster’s own channels. Words by Tom Loudon. Source: LBB Australia.
📲 Tech: TikTok is launching a suite of safety and wellbeing features that include content prevention filters, a topic management system, and guided meditation exercises. These measures come as the company faces a potential ban for users under 16 in Australia. Words by Nathan Jolly. Source: Mumbrella.
📜 Government: Littleproud got nothing but still claimed a win. Where have we seen this behaviour before? Words by Anton Nilsson. Source: Crikey.
🌶️ Spicy: He’s the former Bachelor star and Canberra Raiders footballer that has sent BookTok into frenzy around the world. Words by Zara Powell and Jonathon Moran. Source: The Daily Telegraph.
Strength: A New Music Partnership
Spotify and ARIA have come together to help ARIA Award nominees and winners, alongside the wider industry, take their music even further.
👉 The three-year partnership does more than just position Spotify as the Awards’ presenting partner.
👉 Spotify will also help boost ARIA Award winners, nominees and Australian artists so they can break beyond our borders. This will come in the form of targeted playlisting, editorial support and high-impact marketing.
👉 In addition, throughout the year, Spotify and ARIA will collaborate to bring together industry leaders, media and international stakeholders to promote Australian music and foster relationships.
👉 Spotify AU/NZ’s Managing Director, Mikaela Lancaster, said: “Spotify’s partnership with ARIA marks an exciting new chapter for Australian music, providing an unprecedented global platform for local talent to shine. This collaboration reflects our clear commitment: to put Australian artists front and centre, both at home and around the world. We’re proud to join forces with ARIA to help strengthen the global pipeline and elevate more Australian artists onto the international stage.”
👉 ARIA CEO, Annabelle Herd, added: “We’ve seen the incredible impact Spotify has had in driving local and international recognition for BRITs nominees and winners, and we’re thrilled to bring this unprecedented level of opportunity, engagement and marketing support to Australian artists right across the year, and especially at Awards time. The ARIA Awards are a critical platform for local artists, but success today means reaching beyond Australia. By leveraging Spotify’s global scale and expertise in music discovery, we’re making sure ARIA nominees and winners aren’t just celebrated on the night at home but are positioned for long-term international success.”
Weakness: Music Channels Go Quiet
It wasn’t all good news on the local music front this week though, with Foxtel revealing it will be switching off the MTV Hits, Nick Music, MTV Club, MTV 80s and CMT music channels at the end of June.
👉 It feels like (yet another) tipping point for traditional forms of music and entertainment media in Australia, particularly coming just five years after MAX, CMC, [V] and Smooth ceased broadcasting on the platform.
👉 Ever the optimists though, a Foxtel spokesperson told Rolling Stone Australia: “For the music lovers out there, customers will continue to have access to our suite of Vevo channels available on Foxtel (IP only), including: Vevo Pop, Vevo 2K, Vevo 90s, and Vevo Retro Rock.”
👉 They continued: “We’re committed to delivering the best entertainment experience possible with access to the greatest variety of premium drama, sport, movies, news and even music. We look forward to sharing more information soon on new music video channels coming to Foxtel.”
Opportunity: Superfans, Streaming and Subscribers
Sometimes, there's actually a bunch of good news sitting in a 91-page report.
👉 In its latest Music in the Air report, Goldman Sachs has flagged the music industry will benefit from several key growth drivers including emerging market expansion, subscription pricing improvements, and new revenue streams from superfan monetisation, per Music Business Worldwide.
👉One stat pulled out by MBW is that global streaming subscribers are expected to reach 827 million this year, a 10% YOY increase from 2024's 752 million.
👉It is emerging markets which will drive this music streaming growth, with the report predicting they will account for 75% of new subscriber additions by 2035, up from 57% in 2024.
👉 And superfans, a group we've covered in SWOT before, could boost the music industry's annual revenue by US$4.3 billion (AU$6.66 billion), based on 2026 projections.
Threat: Too Many AI Headlines?
Each day, week and month right now, it seems people are struggling with deciding if AI is a threat or an opportunity.
👉 This headline would certainly place it in the ‘threat’ category: ‘AI to wipe out 98.8 per cent of the world’s population by 2300, expert warns’.
👉 On the slightly less ominous, but still far-from-ideal, side, businesses are making headlines for their AI steps and missteps: ‘Duolingo CEO walks back ‘AI-first’ memo’, and ‘Business Insider to slash 21% of staff in shift toward AI and live events; union slams layoffs as ‘Pivot away from journalism toward greed’
👉 The media, marketing and advertising industries, however, can’t seem to stop launching more business units, consultancies and initiatives in the space if these headlines are anything to go by.
👉‘Meta’s plans to use AI to automate ad creation’ (Mumbrella) ‘Holdco agencies further investments into AI’ (Mumbrella), ‘WPP Media launches AI-driven Open Intelligence’ ( AdNews), ‘WPP Media's pitch for an AI future’ (AdNews), ‘Industry A-listers invest in AI-powered Springboards’ (AdNews), ‘The AI search shake-up: This performance marketer says now is the time to invest in brand’ (AdNews), ‘Clive Dickens launches AI advisory’ (AdNews) etc. etc. etc.
The Fun Stuff
Quote of the Week: “Taylor Swift has many breakup songs, some of them have happy endings, some of them do not. I hope this will have a happy ending, that it’s not like that one that goes: ‘We are never, ever, ever getting back together’,” Former Deputy Prime Minister/ Nationals Leader Michael McCormack's pop-culture-informed view on the Coalition's will-they-won't-they relationship dramas (via Crikey).
🎙️Podcast of the Week: In light of Foxtel shutting off more of its music channels, it's worth revisiting (or introducing yourself to) the Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV podcast. For nearly four decades MTV defined youth culture – today it's a shell of its former self. What happened? How did MTV build a brand that stayed relevant to young viewers for decades, just to throw it all away? You can listen here.
