Streaming
Snoop Dogg Says Death Row Records Classics Will Live Exclusively On New App
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Snoop Dogg made quite the big score after buying back Death Row Records and relaunching the legendary label, but some fans noticed some of the classic records from that time were missing from streaming services. The Doggfather explained in a recent interview that he intends to launch an app where those classics will live exclusively. Uncle Snoop was a recent guest on the Drink Champs podcast with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, naturally running through the Long Beach, Calif. native’s lengthy and still-ongoing career. As has been noted in earlier reports, Snoop elected to remove Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, his debut album Doggystyle, and Tha Dogg Pound’s Dog Food from Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Music for streaming. Snoop explained, “First thing I did...
Here’s Why Snoop Dogg Says He Pulled Death Row’s Catalog From Streaming
Snoop Dogg’s first course of action after purchasing the Death Row Records brand and catalog in February was seemingly pulling the whole catalog off streaming services — now he’s explained why. In a new interview with REVOLT’s Drink Champs on Friday, Snoop said he removed Death Row’s music — including his 1993 debut Doggystyle and Dr. Dre’s seminal The Chronic — from traditional streaming services “because those platforms don’t pay.” Instead, the rapper claimed he’s planning to launch a standalone “Death Row app” that will host the label’s music. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Those platforms get millions and millions and millions of streams and nobody gets paid other than the record labels,” said Snoop. “So what I wanted to do is snatch...
Swedish House Mafia Make History With First-Ever Spotify Livestream at Coachella Afterparty
The dance music mega-group Swedish House Mafia made history early Saturday (April 16) when the trio became the first artists to be livestreamed by Spotify as part of the streaming platform’s new Spotify Live offering. Axwell highlighted the news while the Swedes performed at a private Coachella afterparty hosted by Spotify to celebrate the release of Swedish House Mafia’s first studio album, Paradise Again. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The group performed for over two hours at a highly curated event at a private mansion near the Coachella festival grounds with a faux lake and beach, where a bevy of VIP influencers, the DJ Alesso, the pop star Anitta and Euphoria actress Chloe Cherry also made appearances. They played many of the...
Drake Outstreams All Pre-1980 Music: The 2021 Streaming Market, by Decade
The most popular oldies are getting younger. Since at least 2014, the market share of catalog has been rising – from just over 65.1% in 2020 to 69.8% of album consumption units last year, according to Luminate (formerly known as MRC Data). At the same time, though, the music that dominates the catalog category – defined by Billboard as albums released more than 18 months ago, as long as they’re not being actively promoted by labels or in the top half of the Billboard 200 – is more recent than ever. In a trend apparently driven by streaming, growth is now being driven mostly by older albums from newer artists – sometimes referred to as “shallow catalog” – rather than the “deep catalog” of the ’60s and ’70s rock acts that used to dominate the category. To get a sense of how profound this shi...
(This Is) Not Your Father’s Catalog Music
Streaming has made catalog music more important than ever – it jumped from about 65% of the market in 2020 to about 70% last year. But the catalog that’s growing isn’t necessarily what you’d expect. Icons like The Beatles are thriving, but the category is now dominated by Drake, Taylor Swift and other modern acts. Billboard explains where the growth is – and how it could continue. Plus: Why Drake streams as much as all music before 1980 combined, how TikTok turns yesterday’s tracks into today’s hits, how classic rock acts are holding up and why the only thing that hasn’t changed is the industry’s ability to hype up trends. Related Related Deep Dive: A Musician’s Guide to Web3 04/15/2022 Read the full Deep Dive here. More Swift Than Dylan: How Newer Hits Overtook Classic Rock to Rule ...
More Swift Than Dylan: How Newer Hits Overtook Classic Rock to Rule the Catalog Market
At the beginning of the year, Luminate (formerly MRC Data) issued its 2021 annual report, which showed that catalog music — which Billboard defines as a track that is older than 18 months — increased its share of overall U.S. music consumption from 65.1% in 2020 to 69.8% last year, as measured by album consumption units. The initial interpretation of that data was that, more than a year into the pandemic, listeners were soothing themselves with nostalgia — relaxing with Fleetwood Mac, rather than blasting Doja Cat. The market share of catalog has actually been rising since 2014, back when sales still dominated the industry, when it accounted for just 35.8% of the business. Since then, the popularity of catalog has climbed steadily, until its big jump last year – when consumption in the cat...
After Deezer Failed to Go Public Years Ago, Now Timing Is Everything
Since 2020, nine music-related companies — including the first- and third-largest record labels — have gone public to take advantage of renewed investor interest in a once-struggling industry. Add French music streaming service Deezer to the list. According to a report on Wednesday at The Wall Street Journal, Deezer, which first attempted an initial public offering in late 2015, is planning to go public with a European special purpose acquisition corporation, I2PO, backed by Groupe Artémis, a holding company behind fashion brand Puma and French investment banker Matthieu Pigasse, a partner at Paris-based Centerview Partners. Deezer had no comment to Billboard on the news. Representatives for I2PO did not respond to a request for comment. Deezer — led since last year by CEO Jeronimo Folguei...
Spotify Podcast and Editorial Exec Courtney Holt Exits
Courtney Holt, Spotify’s head of talk partnerships, editorial and global markets, will transition to an advisory role next month as the audio giant prepares to divide his responsibilities across multiple executives, a person familiar with the matter told The Hollywood Reporter. Holt is expected to stay on as advisor for a year. In the meantime, his duties will be taken over by a team primarily led by Julie McNamara, Spotify’s head of U.S. studios and video, and Max Cutler, the head of new content initiatives and the founder of Parcast Studios. The transition has been underway for a few weeks, according to the person, and Spotify is not hiring a replacement for Holt’s position. “I want to give thanks to the incredible teams at @Spotify I was [lucky] enough to lead and interact with,” Holt t...
Netflix Unveils “Two Thumbs Up” Rating Option for Content You Really Love
For those times when a single thumbs up just doesn’t cut it, Netflix now has you covered. The streamer has begun rolling out a new two thumbs up rating option, allowing users to indicate the movies and TV shows they really love. As Netflix tells it, the new two thumbs up feature — which winks at the trademark “two thumbs up” seal of approval from movie critic duo Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert — will give them even more insight into user preferences, further refining their content recommendations. Beginning this week, Netflix subscribers will start seeing the two thumbs up option alongside the existing thumbs up and thumbs down buttons. Two thumbs up will send a stronger signal to Netflix’s recommendation algorithm than just one. For example, if you give Squid Game two thumbs up, you can...
Open Letter From Congress Rips Spotify’s Controversial Discovery Mode, Seeks Financial Transparency
Congressional leaders representing the Caucus on Multicultural Media are taking issue with a perceived lack of financial transparency on the part of Spotify. In a recent letter dated March 26th and signed by Democrat Representatives Tony Cardenas, Yvette D. Clarke, and Judy Chu, the caucus raised concerns that the streaming giant’s controversial Discovery Mode presents artists with a “prisoner’s dilemma,” when it comes to their ability to monetize on the platform. Discovery Mode, unveiled in November of 2020, is a relatively new feature on the Spotify platform which allows artists the option to boost the visibility of their songs on the platform in exchange for a lower promotional royalty rate. As the letter identifies, however, there is the cha...
The Ledger: For Streamers, Does Catalog Size Matter?
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. If millions of songs are uploaded to streaming services yearly and no one listens, do they make a sound? Yes and no. Someone — but not many people — listens to most every track. But few tracks could be called popular by any definition. Spotify’s catalog grew from 70 million to 82 million tracks in 2021, according to the company’s last two annual reports. That works out to an average of 33,000 per day. Some of its competitors grew faster and further, according to figures in public reports and press releases. Apple Music shot up from 70 million in January 2021 to 90 million in November 2021. YouTube Music also took a big ...
Parcast Union Reaches Tentative Deal With Spotify, Management on First Contract
Seemingly averting a threatened strike, a union at Parcast has reached a tentative agreement with Spotify and Parcast management on a first contract covering the podcast studio’s content writers, fact-checkers, producers, researchers and other workers. The Parcast Union — which is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America, East — announced the deal on Wednesday night, their final day of bargaining with the music streaming giant and the Spotify-owned podcast studio, and are not yet disclosing terms of the tentative agreement. “After months of regular meetings, late-night emails, private calls, & full unit efforts, we’re proud to announce we have a deal,” the union tweeted on Wednesday night. “We couldn’t have done it without the consistent support of our colleagues. It’s been a worth...
