All that glitters in the streaming world isn’t gold in record stores.
The 2024 Luminate Midyear Music Report shows interesting trends into the current state of music consumption, especially for R&B/Hip-Hop. While the genre rules digital streaming, it struggles with physical album sales. This raises questions about how it could affect artists and the music industry in the long run.
R&B/Hip-Hop’s Streaming Dominance
If streaming were a kingdom, R&B/Hip-Hop would be sitting pretty on the throne.
These numbers show that R&B/Hip-Hop hits the mark for what people want to hear online.
However, this streaming success is not without its challenges. While R&B/Hip-Hop is still on top, other types of music are growing faster and could eat into its market share.
For example, Latin music’s share of U.S. On-Demand Audio Streaming grew by 0.51 percentage points in the first half of 2024 compared to last year. This makes the genre’s overall growth of 15.1% in On-Demand Audio streaming.
In fact, hip-hop isn’t even one of the five fastest-growing genres for streaming in the U.S.
If Latin music and other genres keep growing this fast, they could slowly chip away at R&B/Hip-Hop’s lead.
The Album Sales Conundrum
Despite its streaming supremacy, R&B/Hip-Hop seems to be struggling when it comes to album sales.
We’re talking a mere 10.5% of total album sales and 10.7% of physical album sales. And, even in the digital album sales arena, it’s only grabbing 9.7% of the pie.
These numbers look even worse when you compare them to Rock Music.
Rock makes up only 16.8% of total on-demand streams. But, it dominates album sales with 36.4% of total album sales and 37.8% of physical album sales.
But, it’s not just rock stealing the show.
Pop Music is also beating R&B/Hip-Hop in physical album sales with a 21.1% share, even though it has a lower streaming share (12.2%). Similarly, World Music is punching above its weight in physical album sales (7.9%) compared to its streaming share (2.1%).
Is Hip-Hop’s Success Sustainable?
R&B/Hip-Hop clearly rules streaming, but its poor album sales are a bit worrying.
Historically, the music industry has always relied on different ways to make money, with album sales being a steady source of income. R&B/Hip-Hop’s struggle in this area could make it harder for artists to build long-lasting careers.
Think about it this way: streaming numbers look great, but they can change quickly.
If streaming services change how they work, how they pay artists, or if people change how they use these services, R&B/Hip-Hop artists could be hit harder than artists in other genres who make money in different ways.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
The report shows that 26.7% of R&B/Hip-Hop streaming comes from songs that are 18-60 months old. This suggests that people keep listening to R&B/Hip-Hop songs long after they’re first released.
Plus, there’s an interesting trend of “mid-tier” artists gaining traction across genres.
While this might challenge R&B/Hip-Hop’s market share, it also gives more artists within the genre a chance to find success.
Young people are also spending more on concerts. Gen Z spent 23% more per month than the average U.S. music listener on concerts in Q2 2024.
Since R&B/Hip-Hop is popular with younger listeners, this could be a great chance for artists to make money in different ways and build stronger connections with fans through live shows.
Ultimately, for R&B/Hip-Hop to stay on top, it needs to find ways to turn its streaming popularity into more diverse and stable income streams. The genre’s current streaming success is a good start, but long-term success will require some smart moves beyond just getting lots of plays.