Now, you might be thinking, “what’s music marketing got to do with me?” Well, the most insightful strategic thinking is often contrarian by nature.  

Like many of us in the industry, you’ve probably found that it’s harder than ever to connect young fans to your brand. Well, it’s the same in music. Gone are the days when artists could release an album, do a few autograph signings and watch fans flock together. Young fans aren’t just demanding more, they are rewriting the rules of engagement! 

The key question all marketers are asking, with a nostalgic twinkle in their eye is, “How can we construct a brand world that delivers the same magic that it used to in today’s challenging environment?” 

There are three core challenges rippling through the music industry that we can learn from: 

Challenge 1: Fragmentation  

Our old, trusted media channels aren’t delivering the same ROI anymore. Artists used to shoot to fame through mass audiences, like reality TV, but Ofcom’s latest data shows less than 50% of 16-24-year-olds watch broadcast TV, down from 76% in 2018. With content fragmentation and attention spans shrinking, each marketing dollar spent works less hard and might as well be sipping margaritas on the beach in the downtime.   

Naturally the rise of digital platforms is the cheeky culprit here as fans no longer have to peer through a one-way window to get a glimpse of their favourite artist. The big digital hammer has shattered that window into fragments, granting fans unprecedented access to gaze into the multiple shards of the artist’s existence. Any tommy, dick or harry now knows the ins and outs of artist’s life and now expects authenticity across those shards. 

Takeaway: This demand for transparency extends beyond music fans; consumers now expect the same level of engagement from the brands they choose. The challenge we face is to seamlessly integrate these experiences, allowing our brands to resonate meaningfully across all touchpoints. 

Challenge 2: The Fan Paradox 

Music fans are exhibiting seemingly conflicting behaviours. They're becoming more genre-agnostic, yet more clinical about how they identify with their favourite artists. A Vice survey found 78% of young listeners don't define themselves by music genresii, yet they still invest time and money in their favourite artists. As fans weave their fandom into their identity, it becomes a way to express their personality. With AI playlists and blurred genre lines, building long-term connections requires more than just music, making audience segmentation harder. 

Takeaway: Modern consumers are more discerning, socially conscious and digitally empowered than ever. If we want to resonate and connect with them for the long term, we must consistently provide spaces for them to be and express themselves. 

Challenge 3: TikTok  

How often have you been asked, "What's your TikTok strategy?". TikTok is a driving force behind trendsetting and music discovery, where songs can quickly gain viral traction. Music travels fastest on TikTok. However, this rapid rise can also lead to what’s known as "song separation." When a TikTok user edits a track and it becomes a trending sound, the viral moment doesn’t always translate into a dedicated fan base for the artist. Instead, the attention is often fleeting, centred around the sound, and as the trend fades, so does the artist’s popularity. 

Takeaway: Controlling your own brand narrative in the modern era has become increasingly difficult. Clever strategies are necessary to ensure that your brand proposition endures the dynamism of the platforms, edits and formats.  

Rising to the challenge:   

Most music marketers try to counter these challenges by creating a sense of closeness to the artist through methods like text groups and broadcast rooms, with mixed success. These tactics, while helpful, are like using super glue to stick the shards of the brand world back to together —effective temporarily, but the cracks still show.  

So, how do we truly combat these cross-industry challenges? You guessed it - fan-led experiences. Let’s look at Billie Eilish, Charlie xcx and Young Blud  - each of these leading artists, in their own way, has managed to evolve their brand through experiences while staying authentic to their fans.   

Billie has taken the music world by storm, consistently evolving her artistic brand whilst staying true to the reasons her fans fell in love with her and her music. She continues to pull fans into her world by, partnering with Spotify to put on immersive listening parties, giving mega fans first access and putting on free shows.  

Young Blud puts his fans first by creating his own festival, Blud Fest, under the philosophy that music is for everyone, offering cheap and free tickets to a diverse range of fans. 

Charlie took summer 2024 by force, creating arguably one of the largest TikTok music-inspired trends this year. She is always doing the most for her fans and tapping into the experiential realm, creating the Brat Wall, taking part in Boiler room sets, and even showing up to listening parties unannounced, immersing herself with fan culture.   

Outro: 

If you’ve made it this far hopefully you can see that the brand world isn’t lost. You just might have to retune your strategy a little (pardon the awful pun).  

Whether you’re dealing with fans or consumers the success of the modern brand world hinges on whether it creates a consistent space for your audience to express themselves. Leading brands craft simple, brandable experiences to control their narratives. In the digital landscape, memorable experiences fuel word-of-mouth, and fans, especially younger ones, hold the power to boost or undermine credibility. By putting consumers at the heart of these experiences and centring your strategy around them, you can unify your brand. Embrace authenticity as the foundation for building lasting connections.