Music on the Move: Deals & Market Growth

Question? Can you guess the 5th most popular music genre seeing a significant growth period? 🔎

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Big Growth In the Streaming Market

Music streaming has been growing rapidly in the last few years, but experts predict a surge in numbers. With more choices than ever and a tight battle of pricing and features, the market is expected to reach a colossal 24,711.3 million USD by 2027, up from 12,831.2 million USD in 2019. 

The prediction has been broken down further, stating that the video segment will grow fastest. The increased use of streaming services in public places like malls, health clubs, and gyms highlights that the commercial segment is driving much of the growth. 

Although there are thousands of streaming platforms, some ‘key players’ are expected to see a significant increase in their subscriber base: Spotify AB (market leader), Anghami, Amazon, Inc., Apple, Inc., iHeartRadio, Deezer, Tidal and Tencent Music Entertainment.

That list isn't a huge surprise; they are market leaders, after all.

The real issue is attracting new subscribers and retaining customers. It is estimated that around 616.2 million people globally have a music subscription, leaving a couple of billion potential users up for grabs between now and 2027.

The Future of Music For Fans?

For most of us, interacting with our favorite artists on streaming platforms starts and ends with liking and following them. Sure, some streaming services offer BTS content and the chance to win live event tickets and merchandise, but is that the best we can do for super fans?

Super fans are the driving force behind merch and physical copy sales, as well as millions of streams. They go above and beyond to support the artists they enjoy with very little in return.

Helios Creators aims to revolutionize this and improve how fans and artists interact.

One of their main goals is to increase engagement and open lines for communication in new ways. The plan is to let fans support artists directly, meaning that artists can potentially earn more than on other streaming platforms like Spotify.

They’ll incorporate user-generated content, paywalls, exclusive content, commercial releases, and NFTs. 

Artists can earn money through fan engagement (likes, shares, comments, and streams). 

They are in free beta right now and plan for a full launch in September.

Helios describes what they do as a social music experience where creators get paid - and everyone is a creator.

A World First

Microsoft partner Easy On Hold has changed the game for Microsoft Teams Phone customers. No longer will you be stuck with repetitive (annoying) music. Instead, you’ll be treated to a live-streaming integration.

A dynamic live stream will be used rather than audio files since audio files present challenges regarding hold file uploads and size restrictions. 

"Unlike audio files, the Easy On Hold stream is live and dynamic, so the listener never encounters any repetition," says Julie Brown, Easy On Hold President and CEO. "And when personalized voice recordings and messages are introduced as an upgrade, the customer experience becomes even more robust, with the ability for Teams administrators to schedule content to play at certain times on a custom schedule while customers wait on hold."

Easy On Hold will be a subscription service offering 14 channels with global music licenses. Solo is the music-only option with 14 channels, while Premium blends multiple streams and offers custom messaging and music.

Gospel and Christian Music On The Rise

Pop music is leading the charge on genre growth (which isn't likely to change soon), quickly followed by Latin and Country Music (which we reported previously). In fourth position, Christian and Gospel music is seeing a significant bump in popularity.

What is particularly interesting is that, like in Country Music, the driving demographic is millennials and younger age groups. 

The growth of Gospel and Christian music listeners in that demographic has shot up from 29% in 2022 to a massive 45% in 2024.

With social media becoming a more popular music discovery tool, TikTok might be the obvious place to look... or is it?

The link between Friends and Family recommendations has the most significant impact. A survey found that younger generations are 20% more likely to say their immediate network recommended Christian and Gospel music, which is pretty cool. Word of mouth is still doing wonders for music, even in a world with heavy social media influence. 

Answer: Between 2022 and 2023, the five genres seeing phenomenal growth are Pop, Latin, Country, Christian & Gospel, and COMEDY. Did you get it right?

Quick tips: 

Use FreeYourMusic for smooth music transfers (up to 600 for free). 
Playlist curator? Artist? Check out: Music24. Grow streams (without bots).
Have you tried Song Psychic yet?

Thanks for being part of the SongsBrew community,

Until next time!

Exclusive access to the music metrics that matter sponsored by Music API & FreeYourMusic.