{"id":108738,"date":"2026-09-21T11:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=108738"},"modified":"2026-09-21T11:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:51:14","slug":"harder-for-independent-artists-to-break-through-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/harder-for-independent-artists-to-break-through-streaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it getting harder for independent artists to break through?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 150,000 tracks are now uploaded to streaming services every day. Luminate CEO Rob Jonas explains why breaking through is getting harder and what it means for independent artists.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more music available to listeners than ever before. That\u2019s exciting for independent artists, but it also makes getting noticed a much bigger challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent podcast appearance<\/a> with Billboard<\/a>, Luminate CEO Rob Jonas revealed that close to 150,000 tracks are now being uploaded to streaming platforms every day. That\u2019s a significant increase from the \u201cover 100,000\u201d daily uploads that Luminate and others have cited since around 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonas was pretty direct about what that means for artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBreaking through and reaching an audience is really hard.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>Rob Jonas, Luminate CEO via Billboard<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, is it actually getting harder for independent artists to break through?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more competition for listeners<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The sheer volume of new music is a big part of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jonas, around 20% of all music on streaming platforms has received almost no listenership in recent quarters. As Music Ally<\/a> reports, Luminate’s 2025 year-end data provides another indication of just how much music struggles to find an audience: of the 253 million ISRCs it tracked that year, 55.3 million generated zero streams. A further 65.2 million received between one and 10 streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no audience for new music. In fact, the overall streaming market is still growing. The challenge is that the amount of music competing for that listening time is growing too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI is adding even more music to streaming<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Generative AI is another major change since Luminate first started reporting daily upload figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools such as Suno and Udio can now create finished songs in seconds, and the scale of AI music creation is enormous. Billboard’s report notes that a 2025 Suno investor presentation<\/a> estimated around 7 million songs were generated on Suno every day, although not all of those tracks make it onto streaming services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deezer<\/a> has provided a clearer picture of what is actually reaching a streaming platform. The service reported receiving around 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks per day<\/a> at peak levels in June 2026, accounting for more than half of its new daily uploads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luminate is still working on how to accurately measure AI-generated music across the wider streaming ecosystem. Jonas described identifying AI music as an \u201cincredibly hard problem\u201d, with platforms developing their own detection systems and Luminate working to combine different sources of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Older music is competing for attention too<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

New releases aren’t only competing with other new releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonas also discussed the continued growth of catalogue music, and the way listeners are rediscovering older songs through TV, film and social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luminate’s research has found particularly strong examples of this. Jonas pointed to Fallout, where obscure tracks from the 1950s and 1960s reportedly experienced increases of 400%, 500% or even 1,000% after appearing in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same wider nostalgia trend is visible in Luminate’s 2026 data<\/a>. The company reported that catalogue music continues to play a significant role in streaming, while current music made up 34% of audio streams in the first half of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nostalgic music listening is rising: What it means for artists<\/a><\/blockquote>