Streaming services are forecast to capture 80% of the music industry income within a decade. There are moves to give songwriters a greater share of the pie.

But streaming isn’t developing the same way everywhere. Olya Moldavskaya explains why Spotify hasn’t launched in Russia and eastern Europe, while other platforms are using different freemium models, supporting artists by promoting tour ticket sales.

Sammy Andrew says smart speakers are becoming a channel for music discovery. Users are asking Alexa for music recommendations. This makes it vital for tracks to come with machine readable metadata in multiple languages. She advises independent artists on how to promote themselves in an era of playlist curation.

Steffen Holly, a researcher at Fraunhofer Institute, says streaming services are not paying revenue to the correct rights holders, despite advances in metadata. Metadata cheaters are also stealing revenue.He says streaming platforms must become more transparent about how they distribute artist payments.