How can A&R market pop artists in an oversaturated market

Abstract

Creating music and releasing it independently has become extremely accessible and almost a norm in today's music landscape. Artists such as Raye have succeeded immensely this way. However, due to this accessibility, the music industry has become oversaturated with new artists and new music, so how are A&R supposed to market new artists in an ever growing industry?

Methodology

This research investigates the over saturation of the music industry among pop artists and the driving factors. I’ve considered qualitative and academic approaches by looking at academic journals, interviews, and statistic websites.

Literature review

The over saturation of the music industry is a result of technological advances making it easier for an artist to take their career into heir own hands, “technological development has enabled musicians to create, market and distribute music without needing a record label…significantly impacting the independent sectors growth account for 32.5% of the music industry”. (Gled, J and Luic, L., ‘Digital identity from the perspective of generation X musicians’, 2024).

In an exclusive interview, CCO Chaz Jenkins stated that “we’ve gone from a very very localised marketplace to a completely globalised marketplace” (Knibbe, 2020). The rise in technological has also caused the market to globalise meaning the over saturation may not be as large as we think. The globalisation means that more countries around the world are able to listen to music including music that is familiar to them and their culture. For example, music specifically tied to a religion, a country or even a demographic. This type of music is made for a certain group of people without expectation of people outside of this to listen to it.

The top three apps for music consumption are Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon music. In 7th place is Deezer, a french app that is becoming popular in Latin America. In 9th place is Tencent music, a platform popular in china and in the 10th, spot is Gaana music which is India’s most popular streaming platform with 185 million monthly active listeners. This top 10 list of the most popular streaming platforms of 2024 reflect the globalisation of the music industry that Jenkins spoke about.

In 2024, 202 million tracks were added to Spotify. Despite this number, “95% of artists on Spotify have less than 1000 monthly listers” (Stassen, 2025). This statistic signifies the over saturation within one streaming platform and a similar story is most likely told for Apple Music, Spotify’s competitor.

The driving factors for the music industry’s current state include what’s already been mentioned such as the digitalisation of the world making access easier. This also goes hand in hand with AI. Songs that are AI generated have increased in popularity, not because they’re made with AI, but because people can’t even tell the difference between AI or human made. Using AI in the creation of a song is obviously a significantly faster process meaning that anyone can do it, distribute it and make money from its creation, and talent is no longer a necessary resource for music.

Music consumption has often been compared to fast food. Artists are now expected to release music continuously just to remain relevant leaving artists to feel like they have no choice but to have a constant stream of music even if its not important to them.

Conclusion

The over saturation in the music industry may not be as straight forward as there being too much music, although this is true as we’ve seen from the statistics. The reasonings behind the crowded market are a new normal as technology continues to advance. Therefore, marketing music should use new tech as an advantage instead of treating it as the enemy.

Reference list

Curry, D. (2025) Music streaming app revenue and usage statistics 2025. Available at: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/music-streaming-market/ (Accessed: 29 April 2025).

Gled, J and Luic, L. (2024) ‘Digital identity from the perspective of generation X musicians’, IADIS International journal on computer science and information systems. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ljerka-Luic-3/publication/387485399_Digital_identity_from_the_perspective_of_Generation_X_musicians/links/676fe1d8117f340ec3df7c72/Digital-identity-from-the-perspective-of-Generation-X-musicians.pdf (Accessed: 29 April 2025).

Knibbe, J. (2020) “A&R has always been about data”: a deep dive into the role of data in A&R with Chaz Jenkins, CCO at Chartmetric. Available at: https://www.music-tomorrow.com/blog/ar-has-always-been-about-data-a-deep-dive-into-the-role-of-data-in-ar-with-chaz-jenkins-cco-at-chartmetric#:~:text=For%20the%20people%20who%20use,so%20good%20at%20retaining%20them (Accessed: 29 April 2025).