Beats+Bytes 2025 Halftime Report: Music & Culture In Chaos
The Nue Agency’s mid-year culture report is out now. The Beats+Bytes 2025 Halftime Report looks at how everything from politics to culture is changing how smart marketers market including key recorded and live music takeaways.
“Trump’s second presidency has been the X factor pushing us into new, uncertain territory,” says Nue founder Jesse Kirshbaum.
The Beats+Bytes 2025 Halftime Report identifies key sentiments affecting the world of culture marketing so far this year:
- Message in Chaos
- Vibe Coding
- Finding Signal Through the Noise
- Tariffs
- War and the Hope of Peace
- Trust, Confidence, and Living In Uncertainty
- Impact Of Climate Change
Beats+Bytes 2025 Halftime Report: Key Music Takeaways
There’s No Single Music Industry: Rather, there are hundreds of parallel industries, each with their own rules and rhythms. We now fully live in a world of niches.
Fans Want Physical Media: The vinyl revolution is real, yet ½ of the record buyers in the US don’t have a player. CDs are on the rise as are cassettes… Why? Fans want something tangible.
New Format for Music Videos: This game has changed, too. We don’t live in an MTV era. The new formula for music videos plays to the social graph with “content oversupply.” Major artists are also trying to capture attention in the age of “content oversupply” by releasing alternate versions of albums and songs, and more remixes. Ed Sheeran laid it out perfectly with his new single. Here was his blueprint.
Dance Music Is Starting To Boom: The stink from the corporatization and roll up of dance music that ruined its last boom has finally passed. Now, dance music is back on the rise. It’s exciting. It’s crossover. It’s universal. It’s fun. It’s nostalgic and new school. The producers are accessible and smart. We lost dancing during the pandemic, but now it’s back!
Rules of Management: In the first quarter of the year, a significant number of high-profile acts made changes to their management teams. Social media has altered the playing field. We’re constantly comparing and looking at how someone is doing better than us. The golden rule of management was always, it’s not if you are going to be fired but when.. But now with artists thinking like brands and everyone more accessible than ever, the game is changing again and hopefully for the better.
AI Artists: Timbaland is rolling one out and it’s catching some flack, but that’s because people don’t understand. AI performers aren’t taking your jobs. On the contrary, they’re a new genre and they will get bigger. There are some big pluses to this new evolution of the pop star and even if you don’t like it, there is a market for it.
Country Rap Reigns: This is the sound of the Summer. This is the genre. Call it a sign of the times, but this is the sound that has the biggest appeal right now.
In Person Connection: For years, creators have chased virality online, but these days, influence is about access, not scale. Follower count matters less than who actually shows up. I keep wondering what happens when the novelty of IRL wears off. Gen Z, as we’ve all heard a thousand times, is hungry for in-person connection, but what happens when that craving is satisfied?
Niche Festivals: I think we’ve reached a saturation point with the same old live shows and festivals. Smaller, better, and niche feels better and more interesting in 2025.
Live Industry’s Brandapalooza: The live industry is getting better and better at activating brands. It felt like they could have renamed Governor’s Ball as Brand Ball the way the activations had such long lines and consumer excitement. This is a big opportunity for brands to connect directly with fans in a fun and memorable way.
Read the full Beats+Bytes 2025 Halftime Report free here.
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of the Skyline Artists Agency
