This is a work in progress

We'll be putting this into charts, graphs and all sorts fun stats, but here's what we have so far

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Country Music is hot and it’s on the rise especially with Gen Zs.  Everyone loves an origin story, and the American fiddle is just that. It's hoedown tradition is the foundation upn wi upon which much of our dance culture was built.

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• Streaming Stats - In 2023, country music streaming in the US increased by 23.5%, which was almost double the industry's overall growth rate. This made it the fastest-growing genre in the US. In the first half of 2023, country music streams increased by more than 20% compared to the previous year. 

 

• Traditional sales - Country music has also seen growth in traditional sales. 

       

• Concert attendance - Country concerts are becoming more popular, with larger turnouts. And, concert tickets are also becoming more expensive. 

 

• Broad Demographic Appeal – Young to Old, Black, Brown and White

 

Newsweek (March 2024) - Country music was one of 2023's fastest growing streaming genres in the U.S., according to industry data firm Luminate, with country on-demand audio streams exceeding 20 billion, a 23.7 percent increase over the prior year. It's safe to say that country music is taking over but the genre isn't new, as it has an often debated history. It draws influences from both African and European musical traditions but today, it is often largely associated with white people. This has been linked to record companies attempting to segregate the music industry, which dates back to the 1920s.

 

Capital News Service (May 2024) - Gen Z listeners have been instrumental in the rise of country, particularly in audio streaming. According to music industry database Luminate, country streams increased by nearly 24% in 2023. 

 

Variety (April 2023) – [Country music] regularly thrives in live music spaces where fans can discover new artists in country halls, bars and tours but before 2020 . . . . Those facts have somewhat flip-flopped in recent years, with country streaming numbers rising . . . . Though country music has historically lagged behind rap and pop on streaming services, the genre has caught on in a big way — even on Gen Z-favored platforms like TikTok — and is looking to have another big year with the popularity of cross-over collaborations.  [CMT] awards show saw its biggest audience yet with over 5 million viewers tuning in for an increase of 5% compared to 2022, according to Paramount Global.

 

The Spectator (May 2024) - Because country today (at least the version that is shooting up the charts) is young people’s music. And it’s not just for Americans – this summer, Morgan Wallen becomes the first pure country star to headline a non-country festival in the UK, when he tops the bill at BST Hyde Park on, fittingly, 4 July.

 

Regional Latin Music – TX & the SW

 

Los Angeles Times (July 2024) - Halfway through 2024, Latin music is the fastest-growing genre on streaming services in the United States, according to a new report released Tuesday by entertainment data analysis company Luminate.The burgeoning genre had nearly 51 billion streams as of June 27, a 15.1% increase over the same period last year, and is seeing a higher growth rate than rock, pop, country or Christian/gospel. Despite the increase, Latin music remains the fifth-most-streamed genre in the U.S. “A huge part of that growth was driven by the continued rise of regional Mexican music, which is the largest Latin music subgenre so far this year with more than 13 billion U.S. On-Demand Audio streams and a +36.9% year-over-year growth rate,” Jaime Marconette, Luminate’s vice president of music insights and industry relations, said in a statement. Of the biggest streaming Latin musicians in the U.S. to date, three of the four are regional Mexican acts — Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida and Junior H. Bad Bunny was the most streamed Latin artist in the country. All four acts have been streamed over 100 million times in the past six months. Latin music revenue is growing at an unprecedented pace in the United States, rising in consumption by 15% compared to the first half of 2022. Not only that, Spanish is now the second most listened-to language in music across the U.S. accounting for an estimated 23% of listeners. These landmarks follow a breakthrough year for Latin music revenue in 2022 when the genre hit an all-time high of $1.1 billion. In 2023, the genre is on track for another record-breaking year as the RIAA reported a new mid-year high of $627 million.

 

Music, Social and History Documentaries are amongst the Highest Earning Documentary Genres and have a life beyond the film with album sales and live show:

 

Music Films with soundtracks and concerts

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o   Brother, Where Art Thou?  - Down from the Mountain concert tour

o   Cold Mountain

o    Ken Burn’s - Civil War and Country Music Doc series Ashokan Farewell

 

What’s with the sudden fascination for archive music documentaries?

 

Whilst music documentaries are nothing new, there seems to be a rise in a recent format of archived footage music documentaries. When you take into consideration the success of Netflix’s Wham! (2023) documentary, or Moonage Daydream (2022) featuring David Bowie, A24’s Stop Making Sense (2023) – a 1984 concert film of the Talking Heads, the BFIs recently restored concert film Dance Craze (2023) featuring clips from iconic two-tone bands like Madness, and HBO’s Love to Love You, Donna Summer (2023), you can tell somethings in the water. Archival music documentaries are all the rage, and we want to know why. . . . teasing music fans with promises of unseen footage restored for these projects

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People Like to Know the Truth

 

When asked why he thinks country music is on the upsurge, he’s scathing. ‘Because it doesn’t sound like country anymore. Modern country is like punk for the Hannah Montana generation.’