Vietnamese music in the age of algorithms

No longer purely a playground for famous singers, the Vietnamese music scene has expanded to develop an entire related ecosystem.

The rise of Spotify, YouTube, and other online music streaming apps has reshaped public music consumption behavior. In this context, recommendation algorithms and personalized playlists not only influence audience listening choices but are also gradually replacing the role of traditional charts in establishing music trends.

"Hot" thanks to the proposal

Previously, music charts like ZingChart or Lan Song Xanh were considered the benchmark for assessing the "popularity" of a song in Vietnam. However, with the development of online platforms, a song can become popular as soon as an algorithm suggests it at the right time to the right audience – before it even appears on traditional charts.

Music producer 2Pillz represents a new generation of young producers setting trends by combining multiple musical genres (Photo provided by the artist).

According to Decision Lab's Q1 2024 statistics, YouTube is the most popular music streaming platform, with 77% of respondents using it, followed by Zing MP3 (52%) and Spotify (28%). Decision Lab Q1 2024 (also known as The Connected Consumer Q1) is the name of the annual market research report published by Decision Lab (YouGov's exclusive partner in Vietnam) in the first quarter of each year, providing in-depth analysis of the behavior, digital consumption trends, usage of social media platforms and applications, and online shopping habits of Vietnamese consumers.

According to RMIT's Vietnam Music Landscape 2025-2026 study, the three most used platforms for listening to music in Vietnam are YouTube, TikTok, and Spotify, indicating that audience music consumption is increasingly linked to digital content, short videos , and highly personalized streaming services. Furthermore, Vietnamese people spend an average of 1-2 hours per day listening to music online, with YouTube accounting for nearly 99.6% of usage and TikTok following at 99% – demonstrating a huge demand for short-form music content that spreads through video recommendation algorithms.

Meanwhile, according to data from Statista (a global online business data and information platform), the digital music market revenue in Vietnam is projected to reach over 1.37 trillion VND (approximately 51.95 million USD) in 2025, an increase of nearly 9% compared to the previous year. Online music streaming accounts for more than half of this market share. This growth not only reflects the increasing demand for online music streaming but also shows listeners' willingness to accept personalized musical content generated by algorithms rather than relying solely on general charts.

Spotify's playlist algorithm or YouTube's video recommendations not only bring songs to the right audience but also directly boost listens and virality. For Vietnamese artists, having a song included in major playlists like Hot Hits Vietnam, V-pop Rising, or appearing on YouTube Shorts can create a "viral" effect, helping the song spread rapidly within the listening community.

Innovation ecosystems are on the rise.

It's not just the artists on stage who are shaping listeners' listening habits; music producers, DJs, composers, video editors, and data curators—algorithm experts—are also influencing audience preferences. Industry professionals refer to this force shaping current music trends as "the people behind the scenes."

In this context, music producers (the soul of the arrangement) are increasingly playing a larger role than singers in determining the artistic style, sound trends, and storytelling of the music. Currently, Masew (Le Tuan Anh) – a producer and DJ – has a strong influence in shaping modern V-pop style through his remixes and million-view hits like "Tuy Am". 2Pillz (Pham Phu Nguyen) represents a new generation of young producers creating trends by combining multiple genres, even proposing the "Vinafro" genre – a blend of afrobeats with traditional Vietnamese music…

Producers don't just create music; they also shape audio trends, decide which musical styles are most frequently used across platforms, create connections between artists, brands, and the technical team, and determine how multimedia storytelling (music + visuals) is done in music videos.

The director of photography and post-production editor are the visual storytellers in music. In the context of music videos now playing a strategic role on YouTube (with millions of views needed to reach the trending charts), the director of photography and post-production editor are the ones who decide the visual narrative that accompanies the music.

AI (artificial intelligence) and music creation are booming concepts in the music market, despite ongoing debates. It's undeniable that AI is gradually infiltrating the Vietnamese music market – from assisting in songwriting and creating arrangements to even playlists consumed daily by audiences.

Recent studies and reports indicate that AI-powered music accounts for approximately 20% of the digital music market in Vietnam (via streaming platforms). AI assists producers and teams in sound modeling, arrangement, creative work, and optimizing communication strategies, but human input is still needed to verify artistic value. This shows that music trends are no longer solely determined by artists under the spotlight, but rather by the interaction between humans and technology.

Current trends in Vietnamese music are expanding towards V-folktriotism – traditional music successfully modernized through EDM or pop, combining local cultural elements with a global vision. The concept of Glocalization is also being widely discussed. This concept transforms music, while retaining its distinct Vietnamese identity, to have international appeal, without relying on imitations of K-pop or foreign styles.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nhac-viet-thoi-thuat-toan-196260303214013646.htm