A field of all levels Strategizing music’s attention economy

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20,000 foot view:  Over roughly the past decade, each stage in the evolution of the attention economy accelerated the pace of fragmentation and oversaturation in music, unearthing new challenges for each micro-generation of artists. With all these generations now competing in the same playing field, artist strategy depends strongly on the era in which they rose to prominence. On streaming, today’s new artists and releases face two unique challenges: competing with pre-streaming-era cultural moments, and competing with the growing volume of all music in history. 

Key insights 

• Each stage of the attention economy has unearthed an entirely new set of circumstances and challenges for artists, with the music landscape growing increasingly over-saturated and hyper-fragmented over time
• On streaming, songs are peaking faster: an annual average of        songs reached number one on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart between 2013 and 2017, and        between 2018 and November 2022
• Pre-streaming-era cultural music moments are lasting longer, and are remembered better
• Only        of consumers say they listen to more older music than newer music
• On streaming, new releases compete not only with the rapidly growing volume of other new music, but also with all music that has ever been released
• The artists who rose to prominence over roughly the past        years fall into six micro-eras, each necessitating a unique approach to today’s landscape
• The environment under which artists first rise to prominence is as important to their strategic plan as the environment we are in today

Companies and brands mentioned in this report:  American Idol, Beyoncé, Billboard, Billie Eilish,        Boiler Room, Britney Spears, Chance the Rapper, Christina Aguilera, Discord, Doja Cat, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Fleetwood Mac, Fred Again…, Glass Animals, Harry Styles, Instagram, Jack Halow, Kate Bush, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, Latto, Michael Jackson, Mr Beast, Nicki Minaj, Olivia Rodrigo, PewDiePie, Post Malone, Tai Verdes, Taylor Swift, The Kid LAROI, TikTok