The Biz: Gen Streaming Less; Bandsintown’s YouTube Deal; ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ Shocks & More

Zoomers Cool To Streaming

Despite skyrocketing revenues from major players, signs that the streaming boom is plateauing having been showing up for several quarters, mostly in that subscriber growth is slowing. The business model for Spotify and its competitors is simple: attrition is expected, so adding new subscriptions in excess to those that are lost will result in climbing revenues, but Spotify has shown ever slower growth, particularly in North America and Europe (growth in Africa has remained strong, but is building off a fair smaller starting point). In short, the streamers need younger users to continue to buy in.

And a new study shows that Gen Z — and especially that fragment of the generation that is in its late teens — doesn’t seem to care much for streaming. MiDia found that streaming penetration in 16- to 19-year-olds is growing far more slowly than in other age groups and that all of Gen Z is relying more on short video sites like YouTube and TikTok for music discovery than streamers.

Zoomers are also showing a penchant for “classic” music — in this case, the definition of “classic rock” means hits from the ’90s or even later — that they “discover” online (a certain reporter can attest that 13-year-old girls gush about “discovering” Sonic Youth) and, perhaps counterintuitively for a digitally native generation, increasingly seek out physical media, which these days almost always means vinyl (a certain reporter was proud when his daughter brought home a copy of Radiohead’s 1995 classic The Bends).

There’s been some consternation that Gen Z cares less about music than previous teenagers, particularly boys, but it may just be the interest has been measured using metrics that were reliable for other generations and that they just show their appreciation in different — and in some cases, more traditional — ways.

Bandsintown Inks YouTube Deal

Concert discovery platform Bandsintown is now the exclusive live listing provider for YouTube under a deal announced Aug. 21.

Concert listings will be available for users while watching artist videos, YouTube Shorts and from each artist’s official channel.

The integration will expand to YouTube Music later this year.

“At a time when musicians continue to struggle to generate income, this exclusive integration with YouTube further demonstrates Bandsintown’s ethos to create value and equal opportunity for artists worldwide, of all sizes and genres, to get discovered on digital platforms and sell more tickets,” Fabrice Sergent, Bandsintown co-founder and managing partner, said in a release.

Spotify began incorporating Bandsintown data on its platform in 2024.

‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ A Surprise Hit

The animated musical “Kpop Demon Hunters” is now Netflix’s most popular movie ever, having accumulated 236 million views since it was released in late June.

Even more remarkably, perhaps, is that views have yet to tail. It’s maintaining 26 million weekly watches, indicating both strong repeatability and new views.

It’s also now moved out of the living room and into the theater: a singalong version shown in cinemas topped the U.S. box office this weekend.

The movie has certainly been a boon for its Korean parent with JYP’s revenues up an astounding 125% year-over-year and profits up more than 400%..