The Perishing English Monopoly over the Music Industry

Photo Courtesy: Travis Yewell

My singular New Year’s resolution for 2024 was simple and short-term: for the first few days of the year, I would exclusively listen to Portuguese music. Despite being Portuguese, my knowledge of its music scene was narrow. In previous years, music from back home was summarised by a few complementary songs in a sea of English language music I was so accustomed to. I expected to have severe difficulties finding enough music to listen to for several full days.

I am now 15 days in and I have discovered a flourishing musical culture. New and upcoming artists have engaged in exciting collaborations with household names. The traditional nostalgic and meaningful notes of our national genre Fado have blended with modern influences of today’s Portugal. I discovered a vibrant range of music encompassing genres and themes I had previously been oblivious to.

English language music has long dominated what we listen to on a daily basis. Last year, entertainment data firm Luminate studied four countries that do not have English as an official language, and found that English is the most listened-to language in three of them (Portugal, Switzerland and Indonesia). English was the language of 65% of the top 10,000 tracks listened to in both Portugal and Switzerland in 2021. In Eurovision, a European song contest, English was sung in 19 of the 23 winning songs this century. On the topic, the Economist even managed to determine a large ‘English-language group’ of countries based on their most streamed songs including Bulgaria, the UAE and Portugal. Names such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Lana Del Rey dominate global cultural discussions.

This domination of the English language is a mistake. We are severely neglecting the potential of different national music industries, cultures and languages. The diversity and quality of what we listen to is harmed by the US- and UK-centric musical field that has developed over the last decades. The question that must underlie this conversation is simple: is the English language so overwhelmingly superior to others that it should justify its dominance? I think not. Talent is present in each country and in each of their languages. It is time to give them their chance to break through.

There are already signs of a shift. Latin American music in Spanish has achieved several breakthroughs in recent years with Shakira, Maluma and Bad Bunny having topped charts across the world, including in the almighty United States. The English language is losing its dominance in the previously mentioned countries too. In Portugal, two years has seen the proportion of English songs in the top 10,000 drop by more than 10%, with Portuguese language music recouping a major part of that loss. In Indonesia, this percentage is now at a mere 39%. Inter-language collaborations have also sprung up across the globe. Dua Lipa collaborated with Belgian artist Angèle to produce an energetic mix of English and French lyrics in their 2020 hit “fever”. There have even been talks of a collaboration between Billie Eilish and Portuguese artist MARO.

Change is often slow. The attention we give to American and British musical exports is likely to strongly outweigh any other for quite some time. Yet, change is underway and we are in for a new world of diverse music to keep us dancing, smiling and crying for decades to come. For me, I will keep listening to Ana Moura, Van Zee, Beatriz Rosário and many others.