Multilingual Tracks are Going Mainstream

Global reach is no longer reliant on the ability to produce songs in English. 

On Spotify, Latin music was the third-most listened to genre, totaling 55.9 billion streams. These streaming numbers beat out Rock, Electronic, and R&B. 

Latin music also had the second fastest growing fanbase on YouTube, with the top 500 Latin artists gaining 104M subscribers. 4 of the top 5 artists on YouTube were based abroad, specifically in South Korea and Puerto Rico. 

On SoundCloud, K-Pop group BTS were the second-most listened to group, outperforming NBA YoungBoy, Lil’ Baby, and Lil’ Durk.

K-pop artists additionally had the most engaged fanbases on Twitter, taking up the five best-performing slots on the platform. 

Latin-pop artist Kim Loaiza had the most engagement on TikTok, gaining 56.3M followers and 846M likes & views. Across the platform, Latin music was the third most engaged genre.  

Artists With Fan-First Approaches are Coming Out On Top 

Today, fan engagement is arguably more important than name recognition. With the absence of live shows during COVID, marketing directly to fans through various digital channels were artists' sole way of engaging with fans. Sending out fan presale codes or partaking in Instagram Live leads to community-building, and the artists with the largest communities behind them (think: BTS Army) have the largest share of user-generated marketing. Adopting these personalized approaches is the natural progression in a data-driven, technology-based marketing ecosystem. Social media and user-generated content prioritize the need for shareable, engaging content. 

Cross-Channel Promotion on TikTok and Spotify is 🔑

Utilizing TikTok to bolster Spotify streams or pushing content equally on TikTok and Spotify editorial playlists is more strategic than relying solely on one or the other. 

Spotify can leverage TikTok’s ability to viralize music into more meaningful engagement. If TikTok is a catalyst for exposure, Spotify is the filter separating the one-hit wonders from those with more potential. 

Short and Digestible Videos = More Engagement

TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are all platforms that are evidence of the demand for shorter, more digestible video content. With so much content swirling around the internet, shorter videos are more compatible with users that want to watch as much as they can in a limited period of time. Excessively long content doesn’t fit the bill anymore because these could lead to missed content viewing opportunities down the line. In general, shorter videos tend to be more engaging and algorithm-friendly. Additionally, this content is  more likely to be watched and rewatched, upping the view count as a result. 

Digital Monetization as a source of alternative revenue

COVID wrecked havoc on the industry’s two most guaranteed revenue streams for musicians: touring & merchandise. When the world went online, alternative revenue sources had to be sought out. NFTs, tipping, and digital merch offer pandemic-proof ways to make money. These sources often offer more money than what artists see from traditional DSPs, making them an appealing option. 

Mood-based listening > Genre-based Listening 

Gone are the days of binge-listening to a single genre. Listeners are much more likely to align their streaming habits to the mood they want to feel in a particular moment. With playlists like Feel Good Dinner and Feelin’ Myself, Spotify already offers mood-oriented curations for every occasion. 

This could speak to the larger trend within music where artists are blurring genre lines in their personal work, decreasing the need to group their music in a single category. However, with increased technology that can monitor our listening habits, DSPs are able to pick up on our environment and emotions based off of the songs we choose – increasing the prevalence of mood-based playlists over rigid, genre-aligned ones.