Arrat Architects

Music Streaming

Gone are the heydays of cassette tapes and CDs. Since the late 1990s, audio technology has come a long way and music streaming has been increasingly driving the way we consume music. As streaming technology continues to evolve in this digital era, so as the overall musical landscape. Today, music streaming has more than 100 million paid subscribers worldwide. In 2016, the global music industry derived half of its revenue from the digital music world and streaming made up most of the digital revenue; while global streaming revenue alone has [...]

Mobile Payments

While electronic payments have begun in earnest decades ago, recent years have seen a massive upswing in mobile payments given the penetration of smartphones and their improved technical capabilities. Since people become increasingly open to adopting mobile payments into their everyday life, the parade toward a cashless society looks downright unstoppable. The global mobile payment revenue in 2015 has reached US$450 billion and is expected to exceed US$1 trillion in 2019. The speed of transition in China, as is the case with many other digital [...]

China’s Music Industry

Once a hotbed of piracy, China has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing music markets nowadays. With a huge population and growing purchasing power, China’s music industry is the sleeping giant that is now slowly waking up and becoming increasingly attractive to artists. In 2016, China ranked 12th in recorded music revenue (up from 14th in 2015), 9th in digital music and 7th in music streaming worldwide. Its recorded music revenue grew 20.3%, driven by a 30.6% growth in streaming; while digital music revenue made up 96% of the recorded music [...]