Apple Music fell behind
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new essay: Apple Music fell behind
It’s been a wild ride for Apple Music. The service launched in June 2015, right in time for the feud between Drake and Meek Mill. While hip-hop fans waited for Meek to recover from “Back to Back,” Apple Music wasted no time. It released a Meek Mill vs. Drake playlist at the height of the drama. It proved that the streaming service was here to be relevant in culture.
A lot has changed since 2015 though. Spotify has expanded its focus, Amazon Music has gained steam, and Apple Music’s market share has declined. Apple, the company that revolutionized digital music, is now trying to catch up.
Read the rest of the essay here.
webinar recording: Big Tech's Big Plans in the Music Industry
You can now watch or listen to last week's webinar recording with Cherie Hu where we break down Big Tech's Big Plans in the Music Industry. We broke down the future in music for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or watch below:
drop now or drop later?
Facing a dilemma. Many artists have albums that are finished. If they release them now, they can keep the momentum up. But they can’t make money from live performances. And by the time the artists can perform in a venue, fans might have moved on to newer music.
If the artists wait till the pandemic is over though, they risk missing the moment and will fight for attention with everyone else waiting for restrictions to be lifted.
Different perspectives. Two artists who have had strong 2020s have different approaches. Travis Scott is reluctant to drop until after the pandemic because he wants his album to “hit the streets.” But he’s still dropped loose singles and has done collabs with every corner of pop culture.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd successfully dropped After Hours at the height of shelter-in-place restrictions, and might have another album “ready to go” before the quarantine is over.
What’s the verdict? First, there’s no guarantee that an artist who’s hot now will be hot when the pandemic ends. Popularity changes quickly, even for the superstars. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot.
Second, hip-hop is the most-streamed genre of music. Despite the low payouts for a single stream, plenty of hip-hop artists make meaningful revenue from streaming.
Lesson: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good!
TDE’s drama shouldn’t surprise us
TDE Rapper reason said what many have been thinking: it’s a weird time for TDE. But that shouldn’t surprise us.
The last few months. Here’s a few public things that have happened recently at TDE:
- SZA said that the situation at TDE is “hostile” and she’s done all she can do to drop her music. She later downplayed the incident by saying her and TDE president Punch “be disagreeing… he’s never steered me wrong.”
- In May, Kendrick Lamar announced pgLang, which fueled recent rumors that Kendrick was leaving TDE. He jokingly responded to the rumors by making fun of Top Dawg’s head in a short video clip.
- Reason, who signed to TDE in 2018, said right now he’s the glue that holds the label together, TDE is going through a “weird time,” certain situations were unavoidable, and there would be no new TDE music this year without him.
Drama happens everywhere. Sure, that’s a few more headlines than usual. But the reaction has more to do with fans’ perception than the reality. Hip-hop culture lionizes the labels we love and gets surprised when regular conflict happens.
Read Reason’s full interview on HipHopDX.
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Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'll be back next week.
Dan
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