Gen-Z dislikes streaming, discovers music on YouTube and TikTok

Gen-Z dislikes streaming, and the music industry isn’t ready for the shift. Their love for TikTok, YouTube, old hits, and physical media is changing everything… again.

Gen-Z dislikes streaming, discovers music on YouTube and Tikok

by Bobby Owsinski via Music 3.0

We are of the age we live in and our tastes reflect that. Our most impressionable ages for music lie between 12 and 24, and those are the tastes and listening habits that we’ll mostly display for the rest of our lives. That’s not good, or bad; it just is. The music industry is about to experience a giant shift, and one of the reasons is how Gen-Z is discovering and consuming music.

According to the music research group Media, “there are signs that Gen Z are not warming to streaming like they should be, with 16-19 penetration growing FAR more slowly than other age groups.”

That’s an ominous statement on the surface, as it seems like the people who should care the most about music don’t seem all that interested, but that’s actually not the case.

Gen-Z gets most of its music from YouTube and TikTok, and it gets it in short chunks. For one thing, the shorter videos feed into shorter attention spans as well as the penchant for passive listening in the background.

Thanks to algorithmic feeds and playlists as well as video game play, they never have to go looking for new music, and as a result, have a harder time forging a connection with it.

But then there’s this. . .

Gen-Z also has a few more musical quirks that will influence the music business in due time. This generation loves older hits and enjoys finding classic hits on social media.

They also want to own their music instead of borrowing it from a streaming service, which means that there’s a desire to own physical media.

And The Future Is. . .

Here’s what this might mean:

• Labels living high on streaming income must be prepared when it begins to fall. We’re already seeing single digit growth and evidence of streaming revenue flat-lining soon. It will not go up from there, unless there are big jumps in subscriptions in developing countries.
• Labels that have invested in catalog recently may be on to something. If a nostalgia waves hits, catalog becomes even more profitable than it is already, and certainly more profitable than new music.
• The real profit is in physical product, as the margins are multiples of every other product a label offers. As Gen-Z reaches adulthood and become earners, physical product may see a peak like it hasn’t seen since the early 2000’s.
• It’s going to be even more difficult for new artists to hang in until they break through, as its the established artists that will profit from catalog streams, licensing, and physical product boom that’s likely to happen.

It’s never been easy to be an artist, but it may be more difficult today than it’s ever been thanks to the massive competition, and less money spent on artist development than ever. The current consumption habits of Gen-Z may make it even more difficult for artists in their age group to break through.