NEW TRENDS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY – 2023.

The music industry is a very fast-paced and ever evolving one. To always stay at the top of your game, you need to be familiar with the latest trends whether you are an artiste, music industry professional, or just a music lover. This article is going to explore seven new trends in the music industry to look out for in this new year, 2023.

Prevalence of TikTok and short-form content.

If you’ve been present online since the start of the pandemic, TikTok’s presence might be obvious enough to make you roll your eyes … but the existence of TikTok isn’t the important takeaway. It is the ultimate trend toward shorter, punchier content that delivers an idea in less time. There are 5 seconds videos that can show you a simple life hack, get your ribs cracking, or make you open your shazam app. The platform Vine did this years ago, though its success was short-lived. A very similar trend has taken place on TikTok, and its longevity remains to be seen, but the opportunity to capitalize on it is here right now.

A huge portion of the successful content on TikTok right now is humor-focused, including content from music producers and artists. Artists sample funny phrases and household sounds, sample existing TikTok’s and create full songs around them, document and dramatize their production processes and deliberately make them absurd; there’s no shortage of angles you can take.

Increased demand for lossless audio streaming.

In the early days of music downloads, storage and streaming capabilities weren’t as advanced as it is today, so there was the need for music files to be much smaller. As a result, files were compressed, which caused the loss of important chunks of data and degrading the audio quality of the final track. This is known as ‘lossy’ audio, because of the lost data. MP3s and Apple’s AAC files are both lossy audio file formats.

Lossless audio on the other hand has come to solve the problem of ‘lossy’ audio. In this case, music tracks are encoded in a way that it doesn’t lose any data. The files are still compressed, but fancy algorithms ensure that nothing important is lost from the recording, so what you get is a faithful copy of the original. Lossless audio is equal to CD-quality music, which means it has a resolution of at least 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz, if you want to get technical about it.

These days, you would find music streamers preferring one DSP over the other because of the sound quality or having a favorite song because of the sound quality. All this feeds into the fact that, the industry is now prioritizing sound quality. Tidal was one of the pioneers of bringing lossless audio streaming to the masses, but you can also listen to lossless tracks via Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon Music. Previously, lossless audio was only available to those on top-tier subscriptions, but streaming platforms have now started to bundle it in with their standard tier. The Amazon Music HD tier, which includes lossless audio, is now available to all Apple Music Unlimited subscribers, and Apple Music has also made its entire catalogue available in its lossless format.

Listeners are becoming increasingly less faithful to a single genre, and artists are following suit.

The way music was produced and consumed has changed drastically. In the past, genres were rigidly defined and music was often categorized into neat little boxes. But nowadays, genres are becoming increasingly fluid, and many artists are blurring the lines between different styles. Reason why there is the umbrella genre of ‘Afrobeats,’ but Burna Boy would describe his style as ‘Afro-fusion,’ or Stonebwoy would describe his as ‘Afro-dancehall.’ Some argue that genres are becoming less important, while others argue that they are more important than ever. So, what’s the truth? The truth is, there are a few general trends that suggest genres are becoming less important in the music industry.

One trend is the increasing popularity of streaming services. These services allow users to listen to any song they want, without having to worry about which genre it belongs to. As a result, listeners are becoming less concerned with genres and are more focused on finding the music they enjoy.

Another trend is the growing popularity of niche genres. In the past, most people only listened to music that fell into the mainstream categories, such as rock, pop, or hip-hop. But nowadays, there are a growing number of people who are interested in niche genres, such as Afrobeats, electronic music, metal, or punk.

Finally, the rise of social media has also played a role in the decline of genres. With platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp, it’s easier than ever for artists to reach a wider audience without having to conform to the norms of the music industry. As a result, more and more artists are choosing to release their music independently, without worrying about which genre it fits into.

Artists are finding more opportunities to monetize on their own, which may strip more power away from record labels in the near future.

Artists are looking at finding public relations and distribution companies to help them find ways to get their music to a large audience. They are uploading their music to streaming platforms around the globe themselves through distribution companies like, Distrokid, TuneCore, Amuse, Music Gateway, AWAL, Horus Music and Songflowr.

Other artists are also using conventional channels like YouTube and Amazon. Where as an artist, you can earn revenue through YouTube. They do this by joining its partner program and use ads to generate revenue. YouTube does this by matching ads with their channel and the fans who watch your videos.

After music is released, artists take to social media to run ads and hire influencers to promote their music; handling the marketing aspect.

Other trends on the rise are:

Virtual concerts: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift towards virtual concerts and other online events, as live performances have been disrupted. Many artists have turned to platforms like YouTube and Twitch to stream concerts and other events, and it is likely that virtual concerts will continue to be a significant part of the music industry even after the pandemic ends.

Podcasts: Podcasts have become a popular way for people to discover new music, and many artists are now releasing their music on podcasts or collaborating with podcast hosts to promote their music.

Virtual reality: Virtual reality (VR) technology is being used in a variety of ways in the music industry, including virtual concerts, music videos, and other immersive experiences. It is likely that VR will continue to be a growing trend in the music industry as the technology becomes more widespread.

As we can see, music has evolved mainly because of technological advances and improvements in how things were done before. These advances have also brought in new opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs alike. In the coming years, progress in the music industry will be largely dependent on these same factors.