According to data published by Neal Schaffer on October 28, 2023, there are about 207 million content creators active today. They comprise an ecosystem worth over $100 billion, 16.4% of which comes solely from the influencer market. These content creators speak the language of customers, and brands need to leverage that stay on top of industrial and cultural trends. The problem is, these trends can often be difficult to predict.
Have you ever wished you had a crystal ball that could help you see the trends of 2024 well beforehand? Well, Artlist has just released a comprehensive trend forecast for the upcoming year. Each trend is backed by exhaustive data, expert insights from top companies like Google and Amazon, and a survey of over 7,000 creators.
According to this report, 2024 will be a watershed year for the creator economy, largely due to changes driven by advancing tech. AI has lowered the technical barrier for entry in the content industry, with 52% of video creators already incorporating AI tools into their creative processes, and 22% planning to do so in the future. You no longer need to know how to use complicated editing software to make music or videos. Instead, you can let technology lend you a helping hand, which will vastly decrease the amount of time and resources you’d have to invest in any given project.
One major trend that’s worth pointing out is the generalization of the creator economy. Back in 2022, 35% of creators referred to themselves as YouTubers, but by 2023, as many as 55% began to use the term “Content Creator” instead. This just goes to show that influencers are less likely to rely on a single platform, instead utilizing multiple platforms to maintain their following and put out their creative ideas.
The creative process is clearly becoming democratized, and this is something well worth considering moving forward. Creators are now defined through their skills, innovation and prowess rather than through any particular platform, thereby giving brands to collaborate with them directly by cutting out intermediaries for the most part.
Veda Partalo, the former Global Head of Marketing at Spotify and now a member of the Artlist board, said that musicians are some of the biggest risk takers in the creator economy. The choices they make in this brave new world will be well worth paying attention to. Some might choose to adopt AI, whereas others would prioritize originality instead. Either way, 2024 will be a litmus test that will define the next generation of music, and indeed content in general.
However, there is another factor at play here that will influence things significantly. We’re talking about regulation, and it’s become a major consideration around the world. AI is challenging preconceived notions of originality and intellectual property, with global governments scrambling to draft regulation that can bring these new forms of artistic expression under the umbrella of the legal system.
There is a massive debate surrounding this topic among the artistic community as well. Perhaps the best example of this is the noted musician, Grimes. Though many artists think that AI mimicking their likenesses is harmful to the industry, Grimes went in the complete opposite direction, releasing a platform called Elf.Tech to officially allow other artists to use AI generated versions of her voice, and earning generous royalties in the process.
The question of artist rights in the age of AI won’t be answered anytime soon, but the stage is set for 2024 to address the matter head on. Many creatives will work hard to protect their IP from getting used in the training models for AI, so despite Grimes proving that there is an alternate path, brands and companies would do well to consider legal and ethical risks and mitigate them as much as possible.
That said, 2024 isn’t just going to be a year of legal quagmires and ethical quandaries. Quite on the contrary, it will provide abundant opportunities for brands to set themselves apart. The lower technical barrier means that stunning visuals will be more affordable than ever before, but it’s essential to optimize these visuals based on current trends. So, what sorts of aesthetic trends are looking to take center stage come 2024?
For starters, it seems like minimalism is finally giving way to a new artistic movement, albeit one that adapts concepts outlined around a century ago. Thanks to the many new creative tools that incorporate generative AI, surrealism is making a bit of a comeback. The clean lines and negative space of minimalism is giving way to explosive color, otherworldly elements and more, giving brands the chance to stand out like never before.
Of course, it bears mentioning that everyone will have access to a largely similar set of tools. As a result, brands can’t make the mistake of simply hopping on the bandwagon. Personalization and individuality is the name of the game, so it will be imperative for brands to find their own unique voice that straddles the fine line between being culturally relevant and aesthetically mundane.
This boils down to taking calculated risks. You can’t figure out what form of aesthetics work best for your brands if your approach is risk averse to a fault. Experimenting based on a defined set of values will lead to an extended period of trial and error, but you will be able to come out the other side with visuals that capture the eye and imagination of your prospective consumers.
With AI in the equation, creative boundaries will be pushed to the breaking point, and in many cases will be shattered entirely. Typefaces are no longer constrained by conventions, with contrast, letter shapes and colors diversifying to an impossible degree. Many of these designs will seem downright unsettling to the untrained eye, but that is the very thing that will make them so effective to begin with.
Moving beyond these vague predictions about experimentation in design, a more specific trend that will almost certainly take the world by storm is First Person View. Drones capable of recording such footage are now available for as little as $2,000, making it all the more likely that the new wave of creators will take advantage of them. In the report, Artlist revealed that a first person view of a high speed downhill skateboard ride was downloaded 15% more than other video elements in the story.
This seems to suggest that videos of this variety are a tantalizing prospect for brands. They can capture and convey youthful energy, excitement and a willingness to be at the bleeding edge, all of which are useful qualities that brands would want to associate with themselves.
Now, 2024 is certainly going to keep the FPV train going, but it will also reach a whole other level. FPV is now being used to create virtual concert experiences, complete with true to life audio that can make you feel like you’re in the middle of all the action. You can just imagine how useful this would be in the context of product releases, giving customers an in depth view of new releases from the comfort of their homes.
Perhaps the most important thing for brands to do in this ever shifting landscape is to hire the right people. A lower barrier for entry means that there will an endless supply of hungry new creatives eager for their next project, but it also leads to something somewhat undefined coming to the fore: the creative eye. Technical skill is now less important than an ability to intuitively understand what makes content stand out, and that must be a prime factor for brands when they are hiring their creative times.
More and more companies are preferring to hire an in-house creative team rather than outsourcing these projects, according to Artlist CMO Shahar Aizenberg. This gives greater control over the final product, and create content that is exceptional rather than just passable. It’s also critical to hire creatives that take a versatile approach, combining text, visuals and audio into one package rather than specializing in any particular one.
There’s also much to be said about the benefits of sourcing local talent. Korean dramas, Spanish music and other previously localized content is now reaching a global audience. 42% of creators said that they used non-English music in their videos, and it’s quite likely that this will become the majority within a few short years, since 31% said that they plan to use more non-English music in the future.
The reduced language barriers creates new opportunities for unprecedented growth, and it appears that the trend will pick up even more steam over the course of 2024. The Artlist catalog itself saw a 300% increase in searches for Latin music, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that brands limiting themselves to English music will be seen as old fashioned.
Finally, 2024 will take the trend of personalization to even greater heights. Long gone are the days when appealing to the lowest common denominator could allow businesses to thrive. There’s so much content out there that brands need to tailor their output to specific niches. Targeting Gen Z will obviously take precedence over anything else given the rapid growth of this demographic as it transitions into adulthood.
Artlist co-CEO and co-founder Itzik Elbaz captured the zeitgeist best when he said that 2024 is going to be a wild ride of a year, and since there’s no telling where things might go from here, brands must remain vigilant about the changes in store. This report will help you understand the major shifts in the creator economy and stay ahead of the curve. Search for ‘Artlist Trend Report 2024’ to read the full report now.
Have you ever wished you had a crystal ball that could help you see the trends of 2024 well beforehand? Well, Artlist has just released a comprehensive trend forecast for the upcoming year. Each trend is backed by exhaustive data, expert insights from top companies like Google and Amazon, and a survey of over 7,000 creators.
According to this report, 2024 will be a watershed year for the creator economy, largely due to changes driven by advancing tech. AI has lowered the technical barrier for entry in the content industry, with 52% of video creators already incorporating AI tools into their creative processes, and 22% planning to do so in the future. You no longer need to know how to use complicated editing software to make music or videos. Instead, you can let technology lend you a helping hand, which will vastly decrease the amount of time and resources you’d have to invest in any given project.
One major trend that’s worth pointing out is the generalization of the creator economy. Back in 2022, 35% of creators referred to themselves as YouTubers, but by 2023, as many as 55% began to use the term “Content Creator” instead. This just goes to show that influencers are less likely to rely on a single platform, instead utilizing multiple platforms to maintain their following and put out their creative ideas.
The creative process is clearly becoming democratized, and this is something well worth considering moving forward. Creators are now defined through their skills, innovation and prowess rather than through any particular platform, thereby giving brands to collaborate with them directly by cutting out intermediaries for the most part.
Veda Partalo, the former Global Head of Marketing at Spotify and now a member of the Artlist board, said that musicians are some of the biggest risk takers in the creator economy. The choices they make in this brave new world will be well worth paying attention to. Some might choose to adopt AI, whereas others would prioritize originality instead. Either way, 2024 will be a litmus test that will define the next generation of music, and indeed content in general.
However, there is another factor at play here that will influence things significantly. We’re talking about regulation, and it’s become a major consideration around the world. AI is challenging preconceived notions of originality and intellectual property, with global governments scrambling to draft regulation that can bring these new forms of artistic expression under the umbrella of the legal system.
There is a massive debate surrounding this topic among the artistic community as well. Perhaps the best example of this is the noted musician, Grimes. Though many artists think that AI mimicking their likenesses is harmful to the industry, Grimes went in the complete opposite direction, releasing a platform called Elf.Tech to officially allow other artists to use AI generated versions of her voice, and earning generous royalties in the process.
The question of artist rights in the age of AI won’t be answered anytime soon, but the stage is set for 2024 to address the matter head on. Many creatives will work hard to protect their IP from getting used in the training models for AI, so despite Grimes proving that there is an alternate path, brands and companies would do well to consider legal and ethical risks and mitigate them as much as possible.
That said, 2024 isn’t just going to be a year of legal quagmires and ethical quandaries. Quite on the contrary, it will provide abundant opportunities for brands to set themselves apart. The lower technical barrier means that stunning visuals will be more affordable than ever before, but it’s essential to optimize these visuals based on current trends. So, what sorts of aesthetic trends are looking to take center stage come 2024?
For starters, it seems like minimalism is finally giving way to a new artistic movement, albeit one that adapts concepts outlined around a century ago. Thanks to the many new creative tools that incorporate generative AI, surrealism is making a bit of a comeback. The clean lines and negative space of minimalism is giving way to explosive color, otherworldly elements and more, giving brands the chance to stand out like never before.
Of course, it bears mentioning that everyone will have access to a largely similar set of tools. As a result, brands can’t make the mistake of simply hopping on the bandwagon. Personalization and individuality is the name of the game, so it will be imperative for brands to find their own unique voice that straddles the fine line between being culturally relevant and aesthetically mundane.
This boils down to taking calculated risks. You can’t figure out what form of aesthetics work best for your brands if your approach is risk averse to a fault. Experimenting based on a defined set of values will lead to an extended period of trial and error, but you will be able to come out the other side with visuals that capture the eye and imagination of your prospective consumers.
With AI in the equation, creative boundaries will be pushed to the breaking point, and in many cases will be shattered entirely. Typefaces are no longer constrained by conventions, with contrast, letter shapes and colors diversifying to an impossible degree. Many of these designs will seem downright unsettling to the untrained eye, but that is the very thing that will make them so effective to begin with.
Moving beyond these vague predictions about experimentation in design, a more specific trend that will almost certainly take the world by storm is First Person View. Drones capable of recording such footage are now available for as little as $2,000, making it all the more likely that the new wave of creators will take advantage of them. In the report, Artlist revealed that a first person view of a high speed downhill skateboard ride was downloaded 15% more than other video elements in the story.
This seems to suggest that videos of this variety are a tantalizing prospect for brands. They can capture and convey youthful energy, excitement and a willingness to be at the bleeding edge, all of which are useful qualities that brands would want to associate with themselves.
Now, 2024 is certainly going to keep the FPV train going, but it will also reach a whole other level. FPV is now being used to create virtual concert experiences, complete with true to life audio that can make you feel like you’re in the middle of all the action. You can just imagine how useful this would be in the context of product releases, giving customers an in depth view of new releases from the comfort of their homes.
Perhaps the most important thing for brands to do in this ever shifting landscape is to hire the right people. A lower barrier for entry means that there will an endless supply of hungry new creatives eager for their next project, but it also leads to something somewhat undefined coming to the fore: the creative eye. Technical skill is now less important than an ability to intuitively understand what makes content stand out, and that must be a prime factor for brands when they are hiring their creative times.
More and more companies are preferring to hire an in-house creative team rather than outsourcing these projects, according to Artlist CMO Shahar Aizenberg. This gives greater control over the final product, and create content that is exceptional rather than just passable. It’s also critical to hire creatives that take a versatile approach, combining text, visuals and audio into one package rather than specializing in any particular one.
There’s also much to be said about the benefits of sourcing local talent. Korean dramas, Spanish music and other previously localized content is now reaching a global audience. 42% of creators said that they used non-English music in their videos, and it’s quite likely that this will become the majority within a few short years, since 31% said that they plan to use more non-English music in the future.
The reduced language barriers creates new opportunities for unprecedented growth, and it appears that the trend will pick up even more steam over the course of 2024. The Artlist catalog itself saw a 300% increase in searches for Latin music, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that brands limiting themselves to English music will be seen as old fashioned.
Finally, 2024 will take the trend of personalization to even greater heights. Long gone are the days when appealing to the lowest common denominator could allow businesses to thrive. There’s so much content out there that brands need to tailor their output to specific niches. Targeting Gen Z will obviously take precedence over anything else given the rapid growth of this demographic as it transitions into adulthood.
Artlist co-CEO and co-founder Itzik Elbaz captured the zeitgeist best when he said that 2024 is going to be a wild ride of a year, and since there’s no telling where things might go from here, brands must remain vigilant about the changes in store. This report will help you understand the major shifts in the creator economy and stay ahead of the curve. Search for ‘Artlist Trend Report 2024’ to read the full report now.
To fully grasp the dynamic changes and emerging trends in the creator economy for 2024, explore the comprehensive Artlist Trend Report. It offers in-depth analysis, expert insights, and valuable guidance for both brands and creators. Discover more and stay ahead in the evolving world of content creation by visiting Artlist at this link.
