Music streaming and the attention recession have turned music into a background activity. Artists en masse are struggling to cut through the noise, realising that streaming is neither a place to build deeper relationships with fans nor to generate meaningful income. Adding to this momentum, music’s key audiences are seeking out more active, participatory experiences with music. These three factors are catalysing the emergence of a new, counterculture music business that hinges on the artist-fan relationship, and the platforms that enable them. This is the platform era, and traditional stakeholders will need to reposition their value in this new landscape.

Companies and brands mentioned in this report:             Ampsuite, Ariana Grande, Artiphon, ArtStation, Audiomack, Ava Max, Bandcamp, BandLab, Bang Si-Hyuk, Beatport, BeatStars, Billie Eilish, Bravado, BTS, ByteDance, Call of Duty, CapCut, Discord, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Epic Games, Euphoria, Facebook, Fender, Fleetwood Mac, Fortnite, Gunna, Harmonix, HYBE, Instagram, Interscope Records, Jericho Mencke, K/DA, Kendrick Lamar, Kenny Beats, LabelRadar, Lil Nas X, Logic, Loopmasters, Marshall McLuhan, Marvel, Mawf, Mixcloud, MTV, Naver, NetEase Cloud Music, Netflix, Pentakill, Pico, Pg Lang, Plugin Boutique, Reddit, Resso, Riot Games, Roblox, Rock Band, Rough Trade, Snoop Dogg, SoundCloud, SoundOn, Splice, Spotify, Sub Pop, The Weeknd, Tate McRae, TikTok, TOMORROWXTOGETHER, Top Dawg Entertainment, Travis Scott, Twenty One Pilots, Twitch, UnitedMasters, Universal Music Group, Unreal Engine, Warner Music Group, Weverse, WMX, and YouTube