Cher An Icon, Beyonce An Innovator - iHeartRadio Hosts Star-Studded 2024 Music Awards
The 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards saw performances from a diverse range of artists across genres. Ludacris, Justin Timberlake, Green Day, TLC, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Tate McRae, and Latto all performed at a spectacular event that showcased the immense talent of the music industry.
Speaking of the talent and variety, this year's host, Ludacris, said ahead of the event, “I love that you got Jelly Roll on here, you got Lainey Wilson, you got Justin Timberlake. I just want to be a part of greatness. There’s so much talent, so much energy and so much stuff to look forward to."
Certain artists were honored with pre-announced awards; Beyonce took home the Innovator Award, while Jennifer Hudson joined Cher in a duet of "Believe," as the pop legend received the Icon Award.
Swift Continues To Roll
Taylor Swift continued her record-setting year after being named TIME Person of the Year and winning both Album and Song of the Year at the 66th GRAMMYs, taking home six trophies including iHeart Radio's 2024 Artist of the Year.
Other big wins went to Jelly Roll who brought home New Pop Artist; SZA with Song of the Year, and Drake who won Hip-Hop Artist of the Year.
A Booming Night For A Booming Industry
The music industry has been rolling as of late as streaming continues to dominate. The recent IFPI report showed global recorded music revenue topping $28.6 billion last year, rising 10.2% YoY.
Streamers have led the charge, having grown 11.2% YoY and now accounting for about half of the entire market. This comes in a year when Spotify Technology S.A (NYSE:SPOT) raised subscription prices 10% in most markets. Despite this, the service added a net 31 million premium users.
MUSQ
As the music industry continues to grow, investing in the space could be worth considering. ETFs can be an attractive option for those who wish to leave the deep analysis and research to a team of experts.
The MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF (NYSE:MUSQ) is a thematic ETF that provides concentrated exposure to the complete music ecosystem, covering streaming, content and distribution, live music events and ticketing, satellite and broadcast radio, equipment and technology and artificial intelligence.
The fund is well diversified and includes streamers like Spotify (3.43%) and Apple (6.07%), device makers like Sonos (NASDAQ:SONO) (2.44%), as well as major labels like Universal Music Group (AMS: UMG) (2.79%) and Sony (NYSE:SONY) (3.35%).
Featured photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash.