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Country Music Is Enjoying a Streaming Boom During the Pandemic: New Data
“It’s the soundtrack of our lives whether our lives are going great or going terribly,” explains Pandora head of country Beville Dunkerley. As Americans continue to shelter in place, they are turning to country music to keep them company in record numbers. Over the last two weeks, country music has enjoyed a streaming bonanza, with on-demand audio streams growing 10.7% to a record high 1.26 billion for the week ending April 23. The next week ending April 30, a new record was set as streams grew 14.3% to 1.3 billion. This is versus the baseline weekly audio average of 1.138 billion for the eight-week period Jan. 17 through March 12, according to MRC Data/Nielsen Music. A number of factors contribute to the rise. Among them are the release of new albums from Kelsea Ballerin...
Patton Oswalt Promises to Host Virtual Webby Awards While ‘Sitting Around in Pajamas’
This will be Oswalt’s fourth time hosting the show, which extends his record as the Webbys’ most frequent host. Patton Oswalt will host the 24th Annual Webby Awards on May 19. The show, typically held in New York City, will instead be an Internet celebration with a focus on those using the Internet to respond to the impact of COVID-19. This year’s show has been dubbed WFH: Webbys From Home. In a statement, Oswalt joked: “It’s going to be the same as every other night lately — sitting around in my pajamas, marveling at amazing stuff on the Internet — except I won’t even have to find it myself.” “No one on this planet gets the Internet and can make it funny quite like Patton Oswalt,” said Claire Graves, executive director of t...
Hillard ‘Sweet Pea’ Atkinson, Legendary Vocalist With Was (Not Was), Dies at 74
When Chris Blackwell signed Hillard “Sweet Pea” Atkinson to Island Records, he wanted to do more than just make a solo album for the Was (Not Was) singer. “He wanted to make a comic book where Sweet Pea was the main character,” Don Was tells Billboard, “because he was a larger than life guy — which is how I still think of him. I don’t think of him as a regular human.” Atkinson’s large life came to an end May 5, when he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, where he lived. While Was (Not Was) became Atkinson’s claim to fame, it was also the stepping stone into a career that included two solo albums — Don’t Walk Away in 1982 and 2017’s Get What You Deserve — and membership i...
Ingrooves Expands In Australia and NZ
Ingrooves Music Group, the music marketing services and distribution division of Universal Music Group, is expanding its presence Down Under. Nina Rabe-Cairns is recruited to lead its activities in the region, in the role as Country Manager of Ingrooves Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. A former reporter and presenter, Rabe-Cairns joins from Spotify, where she served as market strategy & operations manager for Australia and New Zealand and, earlier, as senior editor/playlist curator. Previously, Rabe-Cairns served in executive roles with Viacom in Berlin, rising to senior brand marketing manager for Nickelodeon. And before that, she was head of content for Viacom’s digital editorial team, working on MTV and Comedy Central. “Nina brings with her a wealth of expertise and deep ...
Jenni Rivera Scores 14th Top 10 on Regional Mexican Airplay Chart with ‘Engañémoslo’
Plus, Calibre 50 & Joan Sebastian’s “Que Sea” lands in the top 10. Jenni Rivera notches her third posthumous top 10 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “Engañémoslo” jumps 13-8. The tune was recorded by Rivera prior to her death in 2012 and co-written by Rivera alongside Espinoza Paz. It’s also the theme song of a campaign launched by the Rivera family in support of women empowerment throughout Mexico and U.S. “I assumed she didn’t get to record it,” Paz commented via a press release. “What a pleasant surprise to find out she did.” “Engañemoslo” lifts to 4 million in audience impressions (up 14%) earned in the week ending May 3, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The song marks the second previously unreleased recording by the Rivera family following Rivera’s death. It fol...
