(Hypebot) — Luminate’s 2024 midyear report reveals positive trends for independent musicians and highlights major shifts in consumer behavior, streaming models and emerging genres.
Positive trends for independent musicians
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Luminate’s 2024 Mid-Year Music Report has a few takeaways Interesting lessons for musicians.
The report also suggests that despite the many recent controversies — such as changes to Spotify royalties, changes to Deezer’s catalog, and the specter of AI-generated music competing with human creativity — things actually appear to be There is more hope for mid- to low-level independent artists.
So let’s look at some key takeaways from the report from the perspective of an enterprising musician.
What is Luminate’s mid-year music report?
Luminate (formerly Neilsen Music) is a company Provides analysis on the music and entertainment industry.
The Mid-Year Music Report is an impressive and interactive study of music engagement and consumer habits over the past 6 months.
reporting measures 23 trillion data points. From thousands of artists. More than 50 genres. in 48 markets. Gathered from over 500 sources across streaming, social, retail and broadcast.
Here are some encouraging numbers…
Streaming is (still) growing
Streaming adoption rates vary by market, but when measured globally: Streaming adoption rates have increased significantly.
Audio streaming on demand grew by 15.1% Compared to the first half of 2023.
Independent music is gaining more and more attention
Not only is streaming growing overall, but so is independent musicians’ share of total streaming:
As the report states:
Did you know that total U.S. on-demand audio streaming in 2024 (first half) will be between 1 million and 10 million, with independent artists accounting for 62.1% of all artists?
In fact, the proportion of independent artists receiving more than 500 million on-demand audio streams increased by more than 2% in the first half of 2024 compared to the second half of 2023.
So, how many artists will receive 1 million to 10 million streams in the first half of 2024?
29,253.
62.1% of them are not major label acts.
That’s good news for the large and growing number of music creators who fall somewhere between obscurity and superstardom.
So do “middle-level” artists do better?
Yes, they are getting more attention. Having said that, some news outlets reported on the story and used the term “middle-class artist.”
This may be a minor point, but I do want to address my concerns about confusing the two terms. middle level describe accurately A legion of artists somewhere between the limits of listeningon one side there are less than a thousand people, and on the other side there is a billion-traffic club.
“Middle-class artist” (at least to me) means a certain income or economic status. While many mid-tier artists will receive not only streaming revenue but also download and merchandise sales, concert ticket sales, sync licensing fees, etc., mid-tier streaming activity itself may not equate to middle-class income, especially if Divide among multiple collaborators, co-authors, etc.
Again, streaming doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so There is an overlap between mid-level artists and middle-class artistsbut… I just wanted to add a little caveat to the good news headlines.
My warnings aside, overall streaming growth combined with the growth of mid-level artists is certainly good news.
Is your oldest music still there? new?
I’ve been saying this for years Even the oldest music is new to most listeners.
In some ways, release dates matter less than ever, given our passive consumption environment is driven by algorithmic recommendations and playlists.
This slide suggests the following:
Now, when Luminate tracks Deep Catalog activity, they’re actually looking at the entire history of the hottest recorded music. Of course, this still caused widespread concern.
But as Kevin Brauner and I have discussed on numerous occasions, our own children Really don’t care about the release date. They don’t know if a song came out in the 1960s, the 1980s, 2010, or yesterday.
If they haven’t heard it, and they hear it and they like it, then they like it.
The power of the catalog, then, goes beyond its appeal to a nostalgic generation. It’s simpler: it’s good music. If your oldest tracks are great too, they’ll have the same impact on new listeners.
How encouraging!
course? Develop a strategy to market your back catalog.
Artificial intelligence does nothing to help us!
This next thought is not taken from the report, but I was wondering if catalog music was still so valuable, and if participation from mid-level artists was on the rise,…
…Don’t the combination of these two things prove this? The demand for human creativity remains very high?
Perhaps our fears that robots will replace us are a bit exaggerated.
Artificial intelligence tools are opening up a world of new possibilities for human artists. This Luminate report actually makes me more excited to see how these tools are being used by the same mid-level creators who are already engaging audiences, driving trends, and making necessary innovations in production and music marketing strategies.
Physical format matters
There is so much data on CD and vinyl sales that I will write a separate article on it. But the TLDR is: You should (probably) provide physical music formats!
Of course, results vary by genre, but a significant amount of music engagement and revenue is still driven by CD and vinyl purchases:
Paid streaming subscribers are Fans of K-pop and Latin music In particular it is likely to be purchased in physical format:
Hardcore fans also like the variants (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.), different colors of vinyl, different album cover options, bonus editions, etc.
Stars like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are able to achieve this in more powerful ways, but the lesson remains:
Make your music merchandise feel like a collectible. rare. Finely crafted. Worth the higher price.
Enjoy the real world? Thank you Generation Z!
If you think Gen Z is the most connected generation, you’re only half right. Now it seems that this group of people this most Possibility to attend live concerts:
So if you’re happy that your favorite acts are still able to tour, maybe stop making fun of Gen Z’s smartphone habits and instead thank them for going out and paying to see live music!
If you’re part of Generation Z (ages 15-27), give yourself a pat on the back and keep attending as many shows as you can. Because nothing slows down your nightlife like kids and a career. 😱
TikTok remains at the top
Thankfully, people appear to listen to music more frequently than they choose other leisure activities, such as exercise, reading, podcasts, and short films. But where do listeners turn when they combine music consumption with short films?
Tik Tok.
However, YouTube Shorts appear to be catching up quickly.
class? Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have made significant inroads; talk of a TikTok ban or forced acquisition in the U.S. has some musicians thinking they could or should abandon the app.
Users tell different stories.
Of course, you should only be active as an artist on platforms that align with your values and interests, but IIf you want to be where people are, people are on TikTok.
Video drives performance attendance
Do you think the average TikTok user just sits on the couch and stares at a screen all day?
No! They occasionally take short breaks to attend concerts. ; )
This statistic may overlap with the Gen Z and TikTok observation above, but it’s also interesting in its own right: Short video users are 38% more likely to go to live concerts.
This is a delightful counterpoint to the expected narrative. Artists like Windborne have known this for years:
You can effectively Reach your audience and promote live events With geotagged video content on TikTok!
Players will give you more money
According to Luminate’s report, gamers of all generations are More likely to purchase music merchandise:
Should you promote music to gamers?
unnecessary. Although “gaming” is a broad term and involves many audiences, certain genres (such as EDM, rock, hip-hop, lo-fi, pop, and even contemporary classical music) may be more popular with gamers than folk, jazz, etc. , children’s music, etc.
But if you make music that really resonates with gamers and you want to enliven it in the places they already hang out, here are the places to go:
Cooperate with the platform
The research I found most interesting asked what features were most important to music consumers when considering loyalty to any particular streaming platform:
HiFi audio becomes less important to consumers.
What is most important? Contact the artist!
picture exclusive content, Updates from artists, news about artists and live streams.
If this is what platform users want—a closer relationship and access to you, the artist—think of yourself as a partner in the platform’s customer retention efforts. Meet the needs of your DSP and you may benefit from increased visibility.
Of course, for an artist running his or her own career, the challenge is providing “exclusive” content to numerous platforms. By definition this is not scalable.
But it does emphasize that you should Provide exclusive content to at least the largest platforms.
For example, Spotify Clips and Canvas, or Pandora AMP’s Artist Audio Messaging.
in conclusion
There’s a lot more to Luminate’s report, and I’ve just commented on the aspects that I find most relevant to independent musicians.
If you want to check out the whole thing, which I think you should (even just to marvel at the design), go here.
