Why Your Back Catalog Matters
You’ve probably heard this phrase a thousand times:”everything old becomes new again.”
An artist's back catalog of older albums and single releases can be the skeleton key to present-day success.
Let’s discuss.
Back Catalogs Are Getting More Popular
What exactly IS a back catalog?
According to Luminate, current music is defined as “music released within the last 18 months.” Back catalogs are “any music released 18 to 60 months ago,” and deep catalogs are music that’s “60 months or older.”
Given that, let’s start with a look at a slide from Luminate's Year End Report for 2024 (shown to the right) titled “US Current vs Catalog Consumption.”
“Current Total Album Consumption” is up 3.2% from 2023 - a positive trend. That’s great!
But here’s the standout: “Catalog Total Album Consumption” jumped 6.5% from 2023, more than doubling the growth of current releases, revealing a growing popularity for past releases.
That’s better than great — it’s essential.
Back Catalogs Are More Popular Than Current Music
That growth is only the tip of the iceberg.
Luminate's 2024 report also reveals that the music industry’s total on-demand audio streaming numbers are two-thirds catalog or deep catalog tracks (60 months or older).
Current releases — defined as any music that dropped in the last 18 months — comprise little more than 25% of on-demand streaming numbers. That percentage drops in genres including R&B, hip-hop, and rock.
You can find your genre on the chart accompanying this section and see for yourself.
Why Is This Happening?
There are two core reasons: accessibility and algorithms.
Accessibility
Older music is more accessible to listeners than ever before: Spotify and DSPs like it have existed for almost 20 years, making whole catalogs available at the touch of a button. Older concerts are archived on YouTube for anyone to rediscover. This level of access can lead to massive pop culture shifts.
Take the indie sleaze movement: styles and trends from 2006-2012 become popular again in the early to mid 2020s because social media influencer Mandy Lee glommed onto images of NYC basement parties and the music that defined them.
If the older music and the images that accompany it wasn’t readily available, there’s no path to popularity for indie sleaze. Instead, it might have remained a niche movement.
That’s just one of the myriad ways that music accessibility continuously shapes the culture of music.
Algorithms
ICYMI: algorithms are complex coding that analyze a user’s behavior.
On DSPs like Spotify and Apple Music, algorithms are what queue up a seemingly endless stream of music you’re likely to enjoy as soon as what you chose to listen to ends.
Since algorithms generally get their data from artist-sourced metadata and user engagement metrics, it doesn’t take much for a DSP to queue up an older track for listeners that might be unfamiliar with it.
How Accessibility and Algorithms Work Together
Say, theoretically, that you love Tyler The Creator’s 2025 jam “Big Poe” and listen to it ad nauseum. You probably do that because it’s readily accessible to you, and the algorithm on whatever DSP you use will note your high level of engagement with “Big Poe.”
The metadata of “Big Poe” will note that Pharell Williams and Busta Rhymes appear on “Big Poe,” as a featured rapper and sampled artist, respectively.
That previously mentioned algorithm might use your high level of engagement and those two artists’ prevalence on “Big Poe” to drive you towards Pharell’s early 2000s work with N.E.R.D. or Busta’s seminal 1996 classic The Coming.
If you listen to those recommendations, the algorithm can take you deeper down a rabbit hole of vintage hip-hop sounds – and you’ll probably be happy it did!
It doesn’t take much for accessibility and algorithms to work their magic and make old songs new again.
What Does This Mean For You?
If You’re Just Getting Started…
…don’t worry.
Your releases now function as short and long-term investments. If you’re trying to make music your career, you already know overnight success isn’t guaranteed. The rise of back catalog prevalence increases the chance that your artistic work and personal perseverance pay off, literally and figuratively.
Focus on:
Eventizing your releases – use social media and countdown tools to draw attention to your latest drops.
Playlists, playlists, playlists – Use DSPs playlist pitching tool to try and achieve placement on coveted playlists and create ones for your Artist Page that algorithmically link your music with artists that inspire you and are constantly streamed (this can help listeners find you!)
Release music at a manageable clip – it’s how you build up your back catalog and net those all-important first 1,000 streams. (Learn more about how to do so here.)
If You’ve Already Got A Back Catalog…
…It’s time to fight fire with fire.
Believe and TuneCore developed a catalog optimization tool as part of our TuneCore Accelerator platform whose proprietary algorithms help get your music heard on DSPs.
Our Accelerator Report and Avery Sunshine Accelerator case study specifically highlight how this optimizer fuels career growth for our artists. You can be one of them too.
The cultural shift towards back catalogs is already happening. Get with us and we can help maximize your catalog.