Indie/hipster music dead?

[TheBigA]

Spotify's "Ultimate Indie" playlist has about 2.1 million followers or "likes" while "Indie Pop" has 1.6 mil and "Feel-Good Indie Rock" at 1.5 mil and a few others had over a million followers.

That's worldwide. How many people are there in the world?

 

[AbqAnonymous]

That's worldwide. How many people are there in the world?

7.9 billion I believe is the current estimate with an estimated total of 1.3 billion who speak and understand English. However the biggest Spotify playlist (Today's Top Hits) has 30 million listeners but then the other popular lists, Global Top 50, Rap Caviar, have about half that and the other popular genres of classic rock, 80s, 90s, 00s hits at around 8-10 million. The biggest country playlist has 6.5 million listeners but "lo-fi hip hop" also has close to the same. Beyond that you have hundreds of playlists some with only a few thousand listeners. So if a niche genre can get over 2 million even globally that doesn't seem too bad. And as there are certainly more than 6 million country music fans that doesn't give the total number for the Indie audience. Looking at some of the artist pages the monthly listener counts vary from about a million to over 10 million. But that is only on one platform. There is no question that this is a niche genre and independent labels don't have the same budgets to promote their music as the majors do. But some of the artists still do get on to alternative or AAA radio so it's not totally dead. Folk music has always had periods of mainstream popularity and in 2012 it was songs like "I Will Wait" and "Hey Ho" that went as far as CHR and AC airplay. As for stereotypes you do have hipsters who hate anything mainstream but some might just like the music. I say just listen to what you want if it makes you happy.

 

[TheBigA]

So if a niche genre can get over 2 million even globally that doesn't seem too bad.

It needs to be put in context. Spotify's business model isn't based on any one stream, or on a group of 7 streams. Spotify has no limit to the number of streams it can offer. A broadcast radio company is limited by law to owning no more than 7 stations in a market. So they can't devote one of their few platforms to a niche the way Spotify or Sirius can.

 

[fordranger797]

Depends on how you look at it. There are some great "mainstream indie" acts that are very much relevant in my book. Matt Maeson, The Head and the Heart, Vance Joy, Meg Myers, and the Lumineers (just to name a few) are some groups/performers that I particularly enjoy. Unfortunately, these bands/performers don't seem to get as much airplay as one might hope for on alternative radio today (particularly on Audacy alternative stations, but that's a topic we've probably covered into the ground by now). The problem here is that these acts, although talented, can only create so much content.

 

[Kelly A]

I certainly hope so.

 

[p_herring]

As someone who lives in Brooklyn, I can confirm that the mainstream media's perception of "hipsters" is largely outdated. Most young 20-somethings living in Urban areas no longer only listen to jangly or folky guitar-based music and instead are often listening to a wider variety of pop and hip-hop (not even from an ironic standpoint). The likes of The Lumineers, The Head & The Heart, Mumford & Sons, etc. are basically MOR pop/rock bands that pad out radio playlists (much like Matchbox 20, Sugar Ray, Third Eye Blind and the like did in the late 90's).

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

I don't know if Hipster/Indie music is dead or not but the labels, concert promoters and distributors of audio content like Spotify, Iheart, Warner, Sony, UMG are dealing with a demographic shift issue in general and these companies have to reform one way or another in this decade.

But this isn’t just a music problem. The one app beloved by Gen Z is TikTok. Spotify has long seen TikTok as a friend and a funnel. People hear a song on TikTok and then go to Spotify to listen to the whole thing. But TikTok is now more of a foe in a lot of emerging markets, places where Spotify needs to grow to keep Wall Street happy. TikTok has introduced its own music service Resso in Brazil, Indonesia and India, and it’s starting to get a following.

When Spotify reported disappointing user growth in the second quarter, it blamed the pandemic, which has made growth choppy and forecasting hard. It cited problems with sign up via a third party provider. (It was Facebook.) But Resso was also a factor.

Spotify isn’t alone here. Facebook has Gen Z problem. Instagram has a Gen Z problem. Netflix might even have a Gen Z problem. Everyone but TikTok finds the younger demo elusive.

The very services that brought millions of media consumers onto the internet and redefined culture are now confronting the challenge of middle age. They have to appeal to a new generation of users raised almost entirely on mobile devices. Spotify published an 31-page report earlier this year about the listening habits of younger listeners.