Web Summit 2023 Daily Recap: hip-hop, music streaming and the superfans

Portugal – On 16 November 2023, the third and final day of the world’s largest tech conference turned the volume up with panels addressing the future of the music industry and what it means for brands and advertisers.

In a panel entitled Bronx to Billions: 50 years of Hip Hop Branding, Simone Berry, the co-founder and CEO of POClab and self-defined ‘chief metaverse baddie’, highlighted how it took decades for hip-hop to receive validation, turn into a global lifestyle and a money-making industry. ‘They loved the culture, but they did not love the creators. It was always ghetto until proven fabulous,’ she said.

Berry added that ‘culture’ is the number one word used in marketing and branding in the US. ‘But who is creating culture?’ she wondered. ‘Black women are. And they are also powering commerce. They drive £1.2 trillion ($1.5 trillion, €1.4 trillion) of spending power (source: Nielsen). ‘That’s more than Spain or The Netherlands,’ she added. ‘We are early adopters and trend-spotters. There is also a cool factor. We influence all communities, not just the ones of colour.’

Music was on everyone’s mind with a series of talks on everything from music production in the metaverse to licensing and the business of podcasts. Eliah Seton, the CEO of SoundCloud, suggested that the next step for the music industry is not just concerts, but rather re-uniting artists with their superfans. ‘Streaming is killing the superfans. And they are an old notion in music.’ That’s why the company introduced Fan-powered Royalties in 2021, which distributes listeners’ subscription and advertising revenue among the artists they listen to.

Seton said: ‘It’s more transparent and artists get paid more. This allowed us to identify superfans, and we gave the artists the ability to directly message them, monetise that relationship and roll out new products for them.’

Keep an eye on our Technology sector page to read our upcoming analysis of Web Summit Lisbon 2023.