"Generation Z is Changing the Music Industry" by Michael R.

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Have you ever thought about why music makes us happy? Eating food and being around other people make us happy because we need both of these things to survive, but we don’t really need music. Music somehow activates similar brain areas as other activities that bring us joy. Every generation enjoys music, but there is one generation that is changing the music industry more than the others. Generation Z is changing where we get music, what music we listen to, and how often we listen to it.

According to Music Row, Gen Z spends on average 18 hours a week listening to music. About 63% of people in Gen Z use Spotify to stream music with 37% of those people actually paying for Spotify Premium. Compared to older generations, in which only 37% of people actually stream from Spotify and only 17% of those pay for Premium, this is a significant number. The chart (below) shows where Gen Z pays for music, with Spotify having a lead of 10% over the next biggest music streaming service that Gen Z spends money on, iTunes. In addition, 57% of Gen Z said they would happily pay for Spotify in the future.


Gen Z has also greatly influenced what music becomes popular. Throughout the past year, the platform Tik Tok has become increasingly more popular. With over 500 million monthly users, it is one of the most popular apps right now. Users create entertaining videos that are usually meant to be humorous, and have the option to use 15 second clips of music. The majority of Tik Tok users are in Generation Z. Lately, the most popular songs on Spotify have been Tik Tok hits, with even “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X being named first place on Billboard’s “Songs of the Summer”. Lil Nas X contributes the extreme growth of his song to Tik Tok. Other songs like “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, which currently has over 970 million plays even though it was only released in March of 2019. The song Lalala by Y2K was almost unheard of before it achieved Tik Tok fame. It now has over 370 million plays on spotify, while Y2K’s next most played song has only 10 million.


Gen Z’s taste in music is affecting the top charts dramatically. A quick look at the Global Top 50 playlist on Spotify reveals that at least 10 of the top songs in the world first gained popularity on Tik Tok. Generation Z is affecting music more than any other generation by paying for music and creating new genres, as well as contribute to the rise of new music stars.

Generation Z is also affecting the types of music that are popularized. According to forbes, 97% of Gen Z females listen to at least five music genres on a regular basis. This both encourages different types of music to become popular and encourages genres to combine. Again, Lil Nas X is an excellent example of this. “Old Town Road” is a country, rap, and trap song combined into one.  Do you think Generation Z is affecting music in a positive way? Is it bad that music taste is largely being influenced by Tik Tok?



Works Cited

“Audio Consumption: Millennials, Gen Z Lead The Way.” RSS, 20 June 2019, 
musicrow.com/2019/06/audio-consumption-millennials-gen-z-lead-the-way/.

Cornish, Audie, et al. “What TikTok's Explosion Could Mean For Music.” NPR, NPR, 10 
July 2019, www.npr.org/2019/07/10/738533536/what-tiktoks-explosion-could-mean-for-music.

Evershed, Megan. “The Musical Genre Is Dead, Gen z Killed It.” I, 17 Apr. 2019, 
i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/597z88/gen-z-music-genre-lil-nas-x-billie-eilish-sofia-reyes.

Hodak, Brittany. “New Study Spotlights Gen Z's Unique Music Consumption Habits.” 
Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Mar. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/brittanyhodak/2018/03/06/new-study-spotlights-gen-zs-unique-music-consumption-habits/#bcbdb5442d09.

“How TikTok Made ‘Old Town Road’ Become Both A Meme And A Banger.” BuzzFeed 
News, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/tiktok-lil-nas-x-old-town-road.

Resnick, Brian. “The Scientific Mystery of Why Humans Love Music.” Vox, Vox, 4 Feb. 
2016, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/2/4/10915492/why-do-we-like-music.

Scott, Norval. “Generation Z Loves Spotify, Older Generations Less Convinced.” 
Medium, Street Voice, 3 Apr. 2018, medium.com/street-voice/generation-z-loves-spotify-older-generations-less-convinced-37cbe23facfa.

Trust, Gary. “Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Feat. Billy Ray Cyrus Finishes in First Place On 
Billboard's Songs Of the Summer Chart.” Billboard, 3 Sept. 2019, www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8528896/lil-nas-x-old-town-road-song-of-the-summer-2019.

“You Should Already Know About These Gen Z Music Artists.” YPulse, 
www.ypulse.com/article/2019/04/03/you-should-already-know-about-these-gen-z-music-artists/.


Comments

  1. Joseph C.November 24, 2019 at 8:20 PM

    I find this topic very interesting, I never realized how much platforms like tik tok affects what music is popular. I think this helps paint the larger picture of how "meme culture" is becoming more and more influential to our everyday life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 25, 2019 at 7:04 AM

    I think that platforms like Tik Tok are an amazing thing for artists and not at all a bad thing. It is amazing that a generation can radically change everything about music and I think it is way more positive than negative. This article really shows what a difference Gen Z is making in the world especially the more musical artistic side of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 25, 2019 at 7:36 AM

    I have to say, I spend more time on Tik Tok than I do on anything else. I have to say once I hear the music on Tik Tok and I fall in love with them I go straight to Spotify and put it into a playlist and I listen to it over and over again. I feel like app helps music really blow up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mika P.November 25, 2019 at 12:13 PM

    I run my phone battery down so much because of Tik Tok. I do the same as Daniel I listen to all the songs on repeat all day. The app is an easy way for people to get their content on the internet. Music is a big one. Very interesting topic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 30, 2019 at 11:30 AM

    One of my favorite things about TikTok is it's ability to elevate artists who otherwise would never have been noticed. I follow a lot of aspiring musical artists on TikTok because 1) I enjoy their music, and 2) it's an easy way for me to support someone's art. I think the concept of genre mixing is interesting too, because it is becoming more and more common to find music that has no genre. Billie Eilish, for example, doesn't have a specific genre; however, she is still one of the biggest icons in music today.

    ReplyDelete

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