In today's fast-paced digital age, where viral trends move at lightning speed and ephemeral content floods digital platforms, we often put an emphasis on what's shiny and new, but when it comes to user-generated content (UGC), older music is proving to be anything but forgotten.
There’s a common misconception that older content fades into obscurity and irrelevance. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, with platforms like YouTube and TikTok creating an unexpected renaissance for music that’s a decade or more old.
At Song Sleuth, we look beyond the obvious trends to uncover the untapped potential of music UGC, whether it’s brand-new or decades-old. While the media cycle rushes to cover the hottest new videos, we’re here to show why older content deserves just as much attention. In this report, we dive into why these oldies-but-goodies are still relevant, still growing, and, most importantly, still generating revenue in ways that are often overlooked.
Insight #1 - Older music UGC is still growing in viewership and value
This month’s report analysed thousands of unlicensed videos from our algorithmic predictions with the condition of music UGC being 10 or more years old (since publication) on YouTube. With more than 22,000 decade-old videos from 8,300 different artists found, older videos have combined for more than 970 million views – gaining more than 46 million monthly views as a whole. Not to be forgotten about, older videos amount to millions of dollars unaccounted for.
Insight #2 - There’s one artist that we can’t get enough of
Any music enthusiast may wonder what songs do people, after all these years, still listen to as if released yesterday? Which artists continue to leave their mark on the industry with such impactful longevity?
Leading the way out of 8,300 artists analysed in this study, Madonna proves herself (yet again) as the ultimate icon with the most +10 year-old music UGC found. With close to 11.8 million total views, the queen of pop’s decade old content is also the highest viewed.
While identifying the leading artists and songs with highest traction from older music UGC, the next logical question was answered: what type of content makes up these highly viewed older videos?
Our analysis revealed a powerful longevity, impact and hold that Live UGC has on YouTube.
Insight #3 - Live Performances Reign Supreme As The Most Popular Form of UGC
For all +10 year-old music UGC identified in our study, ~8,000 were live performances – or 39% of all videos. Covers came in second accounting for 35% of all videos, followed by instrumentals with 13%. We all know that magical feeling of watching and re-watching our favourite icons and their best live performances! Indeed, on top of everything, live UGC represents 58% of total views – more than doubling that of covers.
*Bonus Content* - Analyzing The Queen Of Pop
Through a deeper dive into the leading artist of our findings, Madonna’s older UGC (unlike most artists) is actually led by remixes. Watch this space for further UGC analysis, in which we look at which artists or songs are more “remixable”.
At Song Sleuth, we’re committed to analyzing every angle of music UGC, both new and old, to uncover its full potential. Our findings underscore the need for a more comprehensive approach to tracking, analyzing, and monetizing music content across timelines. With tools like Livelink, we make it easier than ever to harness the value of these hidden gems. So the next time you think about UGC, don’t just focus on the newest releases. Remember, the past holds gold too.
