Here, we break down the shifts and new trends that are emerging around UGC, and explore how the golden age of UGC is upon us, bringing with it a host of opportunities for artists and rightsholders. 

1. CREATION > CONSUMPTION

Music audiences are diverging. Not so long ago, there were people who a) knew what music they wanted to listen to, b) sought out ways to own it, and c) actively engaged with the artists who created it, through things like gigs, merch, fan clubs and forums. Then there were the people who engaged with music passively. They didn’t know so much about artists or albums, but were happy to listen to the music that the DJs on radio stations or in clubs would play.

Streaming caused these audiences to converge into one homogenous ‘user’. DSPs were a melting pot, not just for all genres of music, but for all types of music listeners. All of a sudden, your diehard music fans and your casual music consumers and everyone in between were congregating, like parched animals drinking from the same, bountiful watering hole of music. For a while, this system worked well enough: DSPs dispensed playlists like ‘Today’s Top Hits’ to satiate the old radio crowd, while devoted fanbases were able to continue accessing music by their favorite artists, who had little other choice but to host it there. 

However, if one thing is for certain in the music industry, it’s that the only constant is change. And sure enough, as have DSPs evolved to become the music establishment, we are starting to witness a mass migration away from the watering hole, as the new breed of music fan moves on to pastures new where they can engage on a deeper level with their favorite artists (okay we’re done with the safari analogy). 

So what does this deeper engagement look like? Creation. 

The proliferation of short-form content platforms, combined with increased accessibility to technology have created the perfect storm for an explosion in UGC. In YouTube’s enlightening Trends & Culture Report, a substantial 65% of Gen Z respondents considered themselves to be creators, while 66% of Gen Z Americans surveyed said they spent more time watching content that discusses or unpacks something than the thing itself. In Luminate’s mid-year report, 22% of American music listeners across all ages reported having posted their own short-form videos.

Today’s fans don’t want to passively consume their favorite music. They want to interact with it and create with it. 

2. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: UGC IS THE PRIMARY DRIVER OF MUSIC DISCOVERY

A recent study by Deloitte showed that UGC is not just fuelling fandom, but it is rapidly becoming the primary means that younger generations find new music.

According to their survey, a whopping 82% of Gen Zs and 70% of millennials find out about new artists or music through social media or UGC video sites, compared with only 23% discovering new music through recommendations on streaming music services. 

3. UGC AS A COST-EFFECTIVE WAY TO CIRCULATE CATALOG

Fan pages are a cottage industry. And they’re on the up. In a recent article entitled “Why Fan Pages Are Becoming Artists’ Most Useful — and Cheapest — Marketing Tool”, Billboard explains how labels and artists’ teams are adopting the fan page as an extension of the artists’ channels. These fan pages act as cost-effective media outlets, often churning out huge volumes of content dedicated to any one artist 24/7, without requiring much or any input from the artists themselves. 

The content can range from sped-up songs, song snippets, concert footage and everything in between, essentially utilizing UGC as “a way to circulate catalog and help facilitate music discovery without burdening the artist or having to spend money”.

4. UGC AS AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING TOOL

Where fans go, so too shall the omniscient gaze of record labels follow. While the mission to drive streaming figures was once the lynchpin of all marketing efforts, today the DSPs’ stronghold on the music industry is loosening, and labels are doubling down on ‘direct to fan’ activations that cut out the middle man. 

UGC is, by its nature, reactive, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be proactively solicited, and we are seeing a noticeable uptick in UGC as a cornerstone of marketing campaigns, rather than a serendipitous offshoot. 

As if Tinashe’s ‘Nasty’ wasn’t already the runaway UGC hit of the summer (10 million TikTok creations and counting), last month her Soundcloud page allowed fans to download the stems to the track to create their own remixes, with the promise that Tinashe herself would be “listening, liking and engaging with the uploads”. 

With ‘superfans’ being the industry buzzword du jour, and the likes of Lucian Grainge and Robert Kyncel investing in direct to fan technologies, we can expect to see a lot more of UGC as the feature not the bug. 

5. UGC = THE NEW STATUS SYMBOL

Nowhere was the modern fan’s desire to be an active participant in music more evident than in the epic Drake v Kendrick feud that played out across the summer. While the battle itself comprised 9 tracks in total between the two rappers, the real war was played out in UGC across the internet, with fans uploading 250,000+ pieces of related content, racking up over 3.5 billion views [source: Rob Abelow]. 

From videos capturing 3D printed toys re-enacting the beef, to a feature-length 3 hour 23 minute YouTube hot take (with over 3.3 million views), what’s clear is that we are moving past the era of janky memes and reaction videos and into a new chapter, where UGC is a form of of artistic expression and cultural capital in and of itself. 

When Metro Boomin waded in to drop his BBL DRIZZY instrumentals on Soundcloud, challenging anyone to freestyle to the beat and offering up a $10K cash prize to the winner, the UGC stakes were officially raised. The tweet went viral, amassing over 21 million views in three days, and the beat itself accrued over 7 million plays on Soundcloud, with thousands of rappers rising to the challenge.

All of these points lead to a clear indication that the golden age of UGC is here, and it’s not just a passing trend but a fundamental shift in how people create, consume, and connect with music. As fans move beyond passive listening to actively participating in the music-making process, they are reshaping the cultural landscape and redefining what it means to be a music lover. With UGC emerging as a primary driver of music discovery, a cost-effective promotional tool, and a new form of cultural capital, the opportunities for artists, rightsholders, and fans are just beginning. The future of music is not just to be heard, but to be made and shared by everyone.