At Feed.fm, we just released our 2024 Wellness & Workout Music Report. It’s full of hot tracks, the latest music trends, and actionable insights for digital fitness and wellness brands to drive increased revenue, retention, and engagement. One data point we’re excited to share is that 83% of consumers prefer a mix of familiar hits and fresh tracks to stay engaged.
Music discovery in fitness
As a music curator, I’ve seen firsthand that music discovery plays a central role in effective workout music. We optimize our customers' fitness music stations regularly to add the fresh tracks that balance out familiar hits in the listening experience. Whereas Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” was perfect at the start of 2024, I know Sabrina Carpenter’s latest chart banger is a better pick for exercise motivation heading into 2025.
One unexpected finding from this year? Many fitness and wellness users have a much larger appetite for music discovery than our Curation team suspected. Read on to learn why your fitness brand should consider workout music with a focus on new releases.
New music now? Yes, please!
We kicked off the year with an experiment. In addition to sprinkling newly-released songs into our regularly scheduled programming, we wanted to offer fitness users another choice: a “New Music Now” station made entirely with fresh tracks.
In order to evaluate consumer receptivity to a new music station, Feed.fm needed a business partner whose fitness app included music selection menus and track skip functionality. A well-known fitness equipment brand with an older, male-leaning demographic agreed to a 6-month “New Music Now” demo, for which we selected fitness-appropriate songs from up-and-coming artists (Burna Boy, Doechii, Fifty Fifty, etc.).
The results were unequivocal. “New Music Now” was a hit.
- Of the 18 station options available to users at the start of their workouts, New Music Now climbed the ranks to 7th place, putting it ahead of other favorites like Country and Alternative Rock.
- Skip rates for tracks in New Music Now were only marginally higher than those in the most-played Top 40 music station, helping prove that the carefully selected tracks don’t need to be familiar to keep you going through a workout.
After successfully demoing “New Music Now” with an established fitness brand, and a demographic we weren’t sure would have a large appetite for music discovery, we’re confident that most brands and their customers would benefit from an increased dose of new music.
Brat power
In August 2024, we teamed up with Warner Music Group and Atlantic Records to support the rollout of Charli xcx’s 6th album, Brat. It was the perfect opportunity to follow-up our New Music Now experiment.
Feed.fm offered an exclusive Brat-inspired music station to our streaming music customers, bringing Charli xcx’s confident energy and playful irreverence to a wide variety of apps. Even non-fitness customers like AI massage company Aescape tapped into brat’s cool cultural currency.
With Brat, we empowered our customers to quickly and deeply tap into the pop culture zeitgeist, giving their users a truly unique music discovery experience including fresh tracks from other artists that exuded the same brat spirit including Dua Lipa, Chappell Roan, and more. Brat radio provided an ideal soundtrack for cardio, lifting, HIIT, and other workout modalities.
Spinnin’ it all together
We know how critical New Year campaigns are for fitness and wellness performance. Continuing the trajectory of New Music Now and Brat, Feed.fm has partnered with the exceptional electronic label Spinnin’ Records to offer our business partners an exclusive CYRIL-curated station. This groundbreaking music producer hand-selected the hottest dance tracks from Diplo, Tiesto, and more.
The power of music discovery enhances fitness and wellness experiences, and we are excited to head into the new year with more options for fitness brands to incorporate music discovery in their soundtracks.
Want to find out how to leverage new releases and music trends to form stronger connections with your customers? Let’s chat!
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