Instrumental Intel - Ep 92 From Breakout to Burnout: Rethinking Artist Longevity in 2026 (1-31-26) [Amended]

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Achickwitbeatz presents ⁠the Instrumental Intel podcast⁠, bringing you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news & tips, insights & interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm EST on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠.
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Instrumental Intel Podcast

Achickwitbeatz brings you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news, insights, interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm ET on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio,⁠⁠⁠ Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠, and your favorite podcast platform.

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Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:00

Hey, thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz, and I'm glad that you've joined me today.  This episode has instrumentals by me for your inspiration, a little bit of music industry news, and later a special segment about rethinking artists' longevity in 2026. Some more uh data just came out from ChartMetric to kind of compile with what we learned from Luminate a couple weeks ago.

00:25

So I'm excited to be bringing this episode to you. And before I go ahead and drop that first beat, I've got to give a shout-out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that, let's go.

[BEAT BREAK]

16:13

Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist 

16:17

to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, vlogs, blogs, podcasts, themes, TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com. Let's make something happen.

16:43

Alright, I'm music producer Achickwitbeatz, back with the music biz brief. First up, Deezer is making its AI music detection tool available to other streaming platforms as AI-generated uploads and streaming fraud continue to rise. The company says 85% of streams tied to fully AI-generated tracks are fraudulent and that it now detects around 60,000 AI tracks per day. Deezer system tags AI-generated music, removes it from recommendations, demonetizes it,

17:11

and excludes it from the royalty pool with claimed accuracy of 99.8%. Several companies have already tested the tool as platforms take different approaches to handling AI music.  Spotify has launched a new in-app music video docu-series called Directed By. It's a three-part series focused on the creative process behind music videos.  The episodes are viewable inside the Spotify app, and they're designed to keep listeners engaged beyond streaming by pulling them deeper into an artist's visual and creative world.

17:40

So this reflects how music videos continue to function as promotional assets, even as traditional video consumption declines, with behind-the-scenes content and derivative clips helping to extend reach and engagement. A new Omnia report estimates that music videos now account for about a third of all viewing time on YouTube, up from roughly 25% in 2021. News content represents around 10% of watch time, with video podcasts about 5%.

18:07

That engagement translated into more than $8 billion paid out to the music industry between July of 2024 and June of 2025. Omdia also reports that shorts make up over 90 % of new uploads, while viewing remains highly concentrated, with the top 1 % of videos generating 91 % of total uploads. All right, that's a wrap for the music biz brief. I'm gonna take a quick pause for the cause, and then I'll be back with the special segment, From Breakout to Burnout, Rethinking Artist Longevity in 2026. Keep it locked.

[BEAT BREAK]

31:02

Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, vlogs, blogs, podcasts, themes, TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com. Let's make something happen.

31:32

Alright, I'm music producer Achickwitbeatz, and back as promised with From Breakout to Burnout, rethinking artist longevity in 2026. So today I want to break down some of the key insights from ChartMetric’s 2025 Year in Music Industry report and, more importantly, what that data means for independent artists as we're trying to build sustainable careers right now.  So we got some different insights here compared to what we got from Luminate a couple of weeks ago with their report.

31:59

But to start with the big picture, 2025 has clearly shown us that the hit cycle has changed. There are fewer new songs breaking through, and even when they do, they're not sticking around as long as they used to. Only three of Spotify's top 10 most-streamed songs in 2025 were released that same year. So that's a complete flip from 2024. On top of that, chart metrics saw less than half as many breakout hits in the first half of 2025 compared to the year before. But here's the paradox, though:

32:27

three times as many artists reach superstar status in 2025. So basically, artists are breaking through faster, but staying there is harder than it ever was before. So the main takeaway for independence here is not to confuse a moment with actual momentum. One viral spike, one big playlist ad, or one chart appearance doesn't equal a career anymore. Longevity now requires consistent releases, audience ownership, and a long-term plan that doesn't rely on lightning striking in the same place twice.

32:56

The next thing is that global growth isn't driven by the usual suspects anymore. Regional genres are powering the entire industry. So, Bollywood, K-pop, Brazilian funk, and reggaeton aren't side lanes anymore. They're basically the main roads now. South Korea now has five times as many artists in the global top tier as it did in 2025. India jumped from less than 1% to 11%. And Puerto Rico is still punching far above its weight globally. So the main takeaway for independents here is that

33:25

you don't have to break in the US or UK first anymore.  Global audiences are discovering music through culture, language, and emotion instead of geography. So if your analytics show traction in unexpected regions, take it as a signal and lean into it. All right, so now it's time to talk about mood because listener behavior shifted in a major way. So at the artist level, chill branding still dominates.  But when you take a look at individual tracks, you'll see that listeners gravitated towards deeper emotions.

33:54

So romantic songs were in the lead, followed closely by darker, more introspective moods.  So in essence, this tells you that audiences want artists who feel approachable, but songs that actually say something. Making the main takeaway for independent artists here, the reminder that branding and songwriting serve two different jobs. Your image can be accessible, but your records still need emotional weight. Safe branding doesn't mean safe music, so definitely put your all into what you're doing. So next,

34:21

festivals tell a similar story about where things are heading.  From 2023 to 2025, dance and electronic music quickly grew across major US festivals, especially Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza,  and holding up nearly half of Coachella's lineup. At the same time, hip hop, rock, and pop fluctuated kind of unevenly, depending on the festival. So the main lesson here isn't change your genre,

34:44

but instead, understand where live music demand is evolving and how festivals book based on audience behavior instead of tradition. They want what's suvin' tickets. So hybrid sounds and cross-genre production aren't risky anymore, but now they're advantages. Also, no surprise here, but sync is still one of the most powerful forces in the industry. In 2025, new soundtracks drove major streaming hits and TV placements revived catalog music at a huge scale.

35:12

Over half of TV syncs used older songs, while films lean heavily on new releases. So the takeaway here for indie artists is to keep clean metadata,  properly registered songs, and versions that supervisors can use if you're gonna make sync a part of your strategy.  Catalog matters more now than ever, and your old music still has earning potential as long as you position it properly.  The next thing to note is that on the creation side, songwriting is both collaborative and artist-driven.

35:39

So yes, large teams are still common, but half of the top songwriters in 2025 were also the performing artists themselves. So for indie artists, that means staying open to co-writing and production partnerships that elevate your work while still protecting your creative voice. Also, streaming milestones are accelerating at a crazy, wild pace. So back in 2015, it took years to reach a billion streams, but just 10 years later, in 2025, the average time dropped to just over six months.

36:07

That speed is driven by global audiences,  algorithmic discovery, and platform behavior, but it also means that careers rise and fall a lot faster. So indie artists should note that with everything moving faster, your strategy has to be solid. Sustainable growth beats chasing short-term trends every time.

36:24

And finally, another important thing to note is that the global power map is shifting. Countries like South Korea and Norway are exporting music worldwide, and regions in Southeast Asia and Latin America are becoming key listening hubs that amplify global hits.  Major labels still dominate, but independent labels are staying competitive by remaining deeply connected to local scenes and culture.  Alright, so that's the real theme or bottom line of this entire report. Connection wins.

36:51

not scale alone,  not going viral, but culture, consistency, and long-term thinking are what separates artists who last from artists who come and go. So, to zoom out and connect this back to Luminate's 2025 Year-End Music Report I covered a couple weeks ago, all of this data shows us that growth hasn't disappeared, but it's becoming more selective, more global, and more concentrated. Luminate showed us just how crowded the market is and how much value now lives in that middle tier.

37:16

and in long-term catalogs, and ChartMetric reinforces that by showing us faster hit cycles,  shorter attention spans, and the increasing importance of global markets, sync, and music that actually resonates emotionally.  Together,  both of these reports point to the same reality for independent artists. Sustainable careers aren't built on one breakout moment, but consistency,  global awareness,  and treating your music like a long-term asset instead of a one-and-done disposable release.

37:43

So if you're independent in 2026, the path forward is wider,  as long as you recognize that global audiences, emotional depth,  strong catalogs, and real strategy matter now more than ever.  All right, now I'm going to take a quick pause for the cause, and then I'll be back to close out the episode. Keep it locked.

[BEAT BREAK]

59:32

That's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer Achickwitbeatz, and once again, I want to thank you for tuning in.  If you found this information helpful, which I certainly hope you did,  please make sure that you pass it along to a friend or someone you know that could benefit from it. I'd also like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  And make sure you come back next week, I've got more goodness lined up for you. So, till next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend, and I'll see you then. Peace.