After Streaming: Who Gets to Own the Music Business Next?
On 17 September, Reeperbahn Festival put the question on a stage and gave it two hours: after streaming, who gets to own the music business next? The panel ran in English on the second floor of the Twentyfive Club, presented by Fortyfy and Orbit.
Michael Hasler — CEO of Juice and founder of Orbit — sat with Verena Bössmann of Dunstan Music, Imke Machura of RAKETEREI and Christoph Martius of Cugate AG. The diagnosis was largely shared. The major platforms hold the audience, the data and the pricing; a stream returns a fraction of a cent; and the metrics artists are judged by — monthly listeners, watch time — measure none of the things that actually sustain a career.
Orbit's argument from the stage was that the answer is not one better platform. Give a scene, a label or a community the rails to run its own — its own presentation, its own prices, its own direct relationship with the people who show up — and pay the artist the moment someone presses play.