Lime Green Livin', Indie Surge, New Artist Tools & More.

Question: What percentage of artists who achieved between 1 and 10 million streams were from independent record labels or individually released music?

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BRAT

Everyone seems to be having a Brat Summer, so we’re here to give you the scoop on what it is and why it is so popular. The “brat” album by Charli XCX hit the digital shelves on the 7th of June. And since then, both the stretched Arial font and the limey green are everywhere. 

Marketing teams all over the world, from heavy corporate to lighthearted brands, hopped on the trend, further cementing its position as the trend of the summer. 

Why is it working so well? For many years, consumers have been primed only to enjoy and buy aesthetically pleasing polished things. However, new trends have emerged in the last three years, particularly alongside TikTok's growth.

Consumers are ditching influencers and perfection and raising a toast to anti-influencers and messy.

The trend that celebrates the un-pretty, the un-perfect, and the against the grain. Honesty, messiness, and authenticity are in the spotlight. 

So when a garish lime green background with ‘brat’ missing capitals and in a pixelated basic font arrives, the audience is primed and ready to embrace it. Combined with the open and honest caption, it was a hit.

To be a brat is to be authentic, truthful, have fun, and enjoy life. 

But there are lessons to be learned with brat for music marketers and artists. 

1. It was intentionally simple - a team, many hours, and 65 colors of green were sifted through to get to it. Aka - Keep It Simple, Stupid. KISS shows how much of a marketing principle it is to live by. 
2. Unpolished in looks only. The authenticity is in the style choices, clothing, and album cover. It resonated with millions of Millennials and Gen Z. The actual product is polished. 
3. The audience feels like part of something—Brat Summer, Brat Wall, rejecting perfection and accepting self. This is a cause that people can get behind and support. Community is king.

Three potent marketing tools are in play in a very carefully created lime green and Arial package. 

It is Charli XCX’s world, and we are just living in it.

Peso Pluma Goes Global 

The Corridos genre is getting more air time (finally), with Peso Pluma scooping a vast 52 million monthly listeners on Spotify recently. Blending Reggaeton, Hip-Hop, and Trap influences with Mexican Corridos, the June 2024 release ÉXODO scored more than 86 million streams. Not to mention, it hit number 5 on the Billboard 200. 

Downtown Music Publishing (DMP) announced it had secured a global partnership deal with Double P Records. Peso Pluma and George Prajin are the label's co-founders. 

Peso Pluma has been doing significant things for the genre for years but hit the big time with El Belicón. The collaboration with Raul Vega was certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. Not to mention over 10 million views in three days on YouTube. 

So, what does the partnership mean? 

It means that DMP will provide full sync placement and administration across current and future releases. The agreement also included administration for Peso Pluma’s publishing interests—including his latest release, ÉXODO. 

Here is what George had to say about the partnership: 

“We are looking forward to joining forces with Downtown and continuing to grow our partnership. I am confident that together we are going to do great things,” - George Prajin, CEO of Prajin Parlay Inc. and Co-Founder of Double P Records.

We mentioned this as a region on the rise a few weeks ago: 👉 The Music Industry Tea 👀

📢 Remember, you can check your dashboard anytime for trends in music streaming. Freshly ground data served up piping hot!

Artists Support

Two big-name streaming services are increasing their support for artists (rejoice). The week of release is typically the best moment to spend extra cash and time on marketing. Spotify has made that easier with its ‘ultimate pre-release destination.’ 

Before we go further, the Countdown is aimed explicitly at ‘week-one’ streams.

So, what are week-one streams? 

Typically, the first week of any release generates the most streaming numbers, and it is the right time to capitalize on any publicity and marketing. According to Spotify, 70% of people who pre-save an album will stream it in week one, meaning it could debut in the charts with the right tools and strategy. 

Countdown Pages offer artist data, pre-save, Clip sharing, merch selling, previews, and a push notification when the page goes live. 

“Countdown Pages generated 6X more pre-saves than our off-platform buy link for several artists on our roster. The tool has been instrumental in helping to reach our chart goals”. — Emily Puterbaugh, Global Director Of Streaming & Digital Sales, Secretly Group.

SoundCloud has also been putting together some interesting support tools for artists. Recently, they announced the Buzzing Playlists, fan-powered playlists featuring Next Pro artists and changing weekly. It's a great fan-first initiative. 

This week, they announced even more good stuff for Next Pro artists. The SoundCloud store will host artists' merchandise (POD), a design space for the merchandise, and limited edition accessories. The artists also keep 100% of their rights. Doubling down on this, they state that the artists will also keep 100% of the profits. 

The program is currently open to a small number of Next Pro artists, but sign-up is open to others, Drop merch, new music, and more all at once.

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Indie Labels Rising

In the last few weeks, we have reported on the streaming music industry's general growth and decline. Some Q2 reports suggest big labels like Universal Music Group (UMG) are experiencing reduced revenue. However, those figures don’t tell the whole story. Sony Music and Warner Music Group reported year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7% and 5%, respectively, in their Q2 reports. 

Is there a discrepancy in reporting? Not exactly. According to Lumiate, 62.1% of artists who scooped between 1 and 10 million streams were from independent record labels or released music individually. And 37.4% of artists who scored 10 - 50 million streams had indie distribution.

The numbers show a ‘dynamic’ shifting happening, and smaller labels are rising—but we generally don’t see those figures in the media as much. 

To illustrate this shift, Spotify reported that in 2017, only 13% of streams were from indie music. By 2023, that number had doubled to 16%. That significant increase further demonstrates the growth in that area.

YouTube Music Gets Personal

May the best personalization win. YouTube Music is stepping up its game and aligning itself with other streaming services like Deezer and Spotify, which lean heavily on personalization. 

YouTube Music started rolling out a brand new feature that allows users to broadcast a daily playlist based on their listening habits. In other words - you are the DJ, and that is your radio station. 

Users who have YouTube Music might notice the feature popping up, and for those who don’t, it is on the way. You can enable it by tapping your YouTube Music profile icon, tapping Settings, going to Privacy and Location, tapping Channel Settings, and selecting Enable Public Personal Radio. 

Last year, the streaming service rolled out the Radio Builder feature, which meant everyone could build their custom station with a mix of 30 favorite artists and similar artists. This new feature is interesting for playlist curators and content creators. 

Other streaming services have social features, too: TIDAL’s Live, Spotify’s Jam and Blend, and the lesser-talked-about Apple Music followers and following feature. So, it is nice to see YouTube Music beginning something fun and fresh to their platform. 

Answer: 62.1% of artists who achieved between 1 and 10 million streams were either from independent record labels or released music individually.

Quick tips: 

Playlist curator? Artist? Check out: Music24. Grow streams (without bots).
Free personalized music posters based on your listening? Yes, please! Check it out: MusicPoster.io.

Do you want to give feedback or suggestions? Email us: [email protected]

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