How pop music works in 2026 – and why it’s about to drastically change

From The Beatles to Billie Eilish, punk to K-pop, teenagers have been shaping the music industry for as long as it’s existed. They are the first to jump on new trends, the first to worship artists and the first to create a whole network of theories and discussion around releases. But that might all be about to change with the new social media ban for under-16s. It’s not the first, fifth or even 15th thing that the British government might’ve thought of when they began to imagine an online landscape without kids. The social media ban was probably more about “child safety” and “adolescent mental health” and “concerning downward curve of interpersonal skills” than it was about protecting a culture of music discovery. I don’t think the supporters of this proposed law were considering the average girl obsessed with music. Or that she became obsessed with it via a 15-second dance she picked up from TikTok. Or that the music industry is now, to a certain degree, propped up by those 15-second dance trends. Those priorities – helping kids be happier and healthier – are clearly the right ones, even if the roll-out risks being a bit Big Brother. I’m fully for the ban, which apparently makes me a traitor to my generation and the generation below me – most of whom are in codependent relationships with their phones and couldn’t have imagined their own teenagehood without social media. But it seems quite clear that a machine built to hold a person’s attention hostage, that is proven to be highly addictive and known to contribute to mental health issues, probably shouldn’t be available to under-16s. Beatles fans in 1965, New York. Teenagers have been shaping the music industry for as long as it’s existed (Photo: Bettmann Archive via Getty) However, for people who were once hardcore music fans, and no doubt for anyone working in the music industry, there are questions. Social media isn’t just casual marketing – it’s the industry’s literal infrastructure. Young users are the group by far most invested in discovering, promoting and sharing new music, off their own backs and for free. How, then, is the ban going to affect music discovery and the industry that supports it? In 2026 a song doesn’t chart because some guy at Radio 1 loved it – it charts because it got shared five million times by mostly young people online. It goes semi-viral by soundtracking a 14-year-old doing their makeup for school and someone’s first break-up and someone’s dance routine with their best mate. Yes, adults are also online engaging with viral content featuring songs new and old, but I’d wager that the way in which songs blow up and become cool is supported by an ecosystem of under-18s. The ban is not as simple as losing kids bopping around on the apps when they probably shouldn’t be: it will cause a shift in an entire economy of unsigned artists and labels, both indie and major, who have become newly dependent on the concept that a teen in Birmingham can help make a stranger in Missouri micro-famous by the end of the week. That social media has such a profound effect on what reaches our ears isn’t necessarily a good thing. Though there are the PinkPantheresses and the Doja Cats and the Lil Nas Xs – all genuinely brilliant artists who broke through on contemporary social media platforms – generally speaking, children and very young people dictating who gets signed and who doesn’t hasn’t been an entirely positive development for quality in music. Strange. The same infinite-scroll, dopamine-flatlining architecture that’s bad for a developing brain is also a dumb and flattening process for variety and creative spark. A&R departments seem to have forgotten that just because someone can write and upload a fun hook, it doesn’t make them a developed artist who needs more resources (at least not yet). A few years ago, I interviewed an artist who had become an overnight sensation; they’d been signed off the back of a single full production track they bought from someone else online, sung over and uploaded, which instantly went viral. There was no story, nothing to talk about – and, crucially, no body of work that demonstrated any potential for longevity or fan loyalty. Nevertheless, the speed of the process and volume of artists trying to get recognition online means that there is plenty of material to choose from: the industry will feel significant shockwaves as it slows down. And, perhaps more importantly, so will fans and artists. Many emerging artists develop within a thriving online music culture, finding a like-minded online community beyond the confines of their home town; artists as huge as Lily Allen, Paramore and Arctic Monkeys found their early supporters on the early social networking platform Myspace. Without a platform like that, young creativity could get stifled, and young fandom – which is so much about connecting in online spaces – could get stifled too. Rapper Lil Nas X blew up on social media. ‘That social media has such a profound effect on what reaches our ears isn’t necessarily a good thing,’ says Hannah Ewens (Photo: Michael Tran/AFP via Getty) When I was a pre-teen and young teenager, I was part of the last real internet subculture: scene or emo culture. It lived and died by Myspace. You’ll remember us by the black box-dye jobs, the eyeliner, and the heavy screamo music. It was genuinely thrilling to come home, log on and be part of a culture where everyone was a rock musician, a music photographer or a music fan – possibly all three. That part of me understands why kids being on social media can be a genuinely amazing thing for music: gathering online around this artform creates a highly dynamic space that gets looked back on with nostalgia, and that has ripple effects on music for decades to come. It would be disingenuous, though, to say that the technology of an early social media site on a desktop computer is anything the same as a constant stream of short-form video all day and night. In an ideal world, with this ban in place, both music fandom and music discovery might slow back down to something more natural. I’d not be the first person to ask: why does everything have to be so instantaneously gratifying? Music for children could be about meeting offline and talking, word-of-mouth recommendations, older siblings tipping you off, people they fancy making them a playlist. People found songs that way for a very long time, and loved them arguably more for how hard they were to source. For better or occasionally worse, very young music fans will be forced to find different, real-life ways to connect and enjoy music. The real horror story: the music industry might also have to get off their phones and send scouts to gigs to discover new artists again. I bet that’s one hyper-specific implication Keir Starmer didn’t think of.