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It's interesting how different types of music have thrived through the streaming economy. Hip hop is huge on Spotify, where it struggled for radio play and sal

It's interesting how different types of music have thrived through the streaming economy. Hip hop is huge on Spotify, where it struggled for radio play and sales before because commercial radio is so conservative (in the sense of risk-averse). Then there's the whole Billie Eilish thing: huge on Spotify, almost no radio play at all. On the other hand, there are Billboard 100 artists who are more or less absent from the streaming landscape. Some sell lots of albums but aren't on the streaming charts at all. It's probably not as simple as saying that streaming is only good for established artists, but bad for the long tail. For some of the previous long tail, it's been very good. And for some of the oldies, it's been phenomenal - Spotify enables them to monetize their back catalogue with near zero promotion or distribution costs, year round.

linuxftw 8y ago
> Hip hop is huge on Spotify, where it struggled for radio play and sales before because commercial radio is so conservative. What? See how many rap albums are in this list [1]. 1: https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/2000/top-album-sales https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/2000/top-album-sale...
- kristianc 8y ago
  There's a bit of cherry picking going on choosing a year where Eminem and Jay-Z were at their peak. 2000 was probably one of the top three years in the last 20 or so for hip hop. Scheduling Eminem for radio play while he is arguably the biggest artist on the planet is not really going out on a limb.
  - linuxftw 8y ago
    I picked year 2000 because it was well before streaming. There were dedicated rap/hip-hop stations for well over a decade at point. > Scheduling Eminem for radio play while he is arguably the biggest artist on the planet is not really going out on a limb. I mean, you can't be the biggest artist on the planet without some level of main-stream support in the first place. To say that hip-hop became more popular due to streaming is just obviously nonsense.
    - kristianc 8y ago
      In 2017, hip hop surpassed rock to become the most popular genre, according to Nielsen, and crucially that was reflected in streaming rather than album sales: > According to the report, R&B and hip-hop are now responsible for 25.1% of all music consumption in the U.S., while rock claims 23%. > Looking at the rest of the numbers listed that dissect how people are consuming these styles of music, it’s clear that streaming is to thank for the swap in ranking. Rock is far and away the winner when it comes to album sales—the genre claims 40% of all album sales in the country—but the total number of records actually purchased dwindles every year, so while that percentage may remain steady or even climb, it’s not representative of how Americans are truly consuming music. [1] [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/07/17/hip-hoprb-has-now-become-the-dominant-genre-in-the-u-s-for-the-first-time/#441f87b65383 https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/07/17/hip-hop... [2] http://www.insideradio.com/free/in-a-streaming-world-it-s-r-b-hip-hop/article_15a19a50-6ddf-11e7-87f7-87363d67cc2f.html http://www.insideradio.com/free/in-a-streaming-world-it-s-r-...
      - linuxftw 8y ago
        So what? Your original statement that rap is popular because of streaming is nonsense. Rap popularity was steadily increasing before streaming, you can't credit streaming for it's popularity.
        wolco 8y ago
        Rap/HipHop sales have been growing since Napster compared to rock. The people willing to pay for music changed. Rap isn't more popular in general but the ability to pirate was much lower in this subgroup. So Rap sells more.. but rock concert's out sell rap concerts where indy rap isn't as celebrated as the superstar.
        scarface74 8y ago
        It had nothing to do with the subgroups availability to pirate. By that I’m assuming you mean the “urban youth”. Sale of rap and even “gangsta rap” has been dominated by White people for two decades. https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/06/really-listening/ https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/06/really-listening/
bitwize 8y ago
Hip-hop has been on the mainstream radar for about 30 years, dude. If Spotify had come out in '90 (that's a "Wonders of the World Wide Web" video begging to be made), you'd have a point. But as it is, for a while in tge early 2000s the Billboard 100 was consistently topped by R&B acts, or as Chris Rock liked to call it, "singing over rap beats". Where Spotify comes into play is granting exposure to artists who are still trying to make it, or whom mainstream radio won't play. But that's cross-genre and diesn't affect the mainstream viability of hip-hop itself.
geden 8y ago
Spotify has had a severe and negative effect on musicians who make what I term 'peak experience music'. Amazing music, but not something you listen to every day. Say you listen once a month or even just a few times a year. Before: 2 listens = dealer price of a CD in UK = about £7.5 (on a good UK indie that's split 50/50 with the artist). Now: 2 listens = income from 2 streams on Spotify = about £0.0006 I'm thinking of artists like Autechre. Spotify is starting the shape the sort of music that artists can be successful with, in a bad way.
- GuiA 8y ago
  If you care about an artist, buy things from them. Records, tee shirts, posters, concert tickets, etc. Streaming revenue is essentially a rounding error.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- pertsix 8y ago
  This is not true/unfair interpretation. An artist does not get paid after the first payment from the label from the sale of a CD. If you play the CD on repeat, the artist does not benefit, nor does the label. /Labels/ get paid for every single listen on Spotify. There is also Spotify Direct, too, and the artist can directly benefit more than if they went with a label.
  - kzrdude 8y ago
    Maybe pay per play is not fair, payout shouldn't be linearly proportional to number of plays!
  - syrrim 8y ago
    huh? is label revenue unrelated to artist revenue?
  - geden 8y ago
    You appear to have missed the point. I'm singling out a genre of music where you might only listen to an album a few times. So repeat plays are irrelevant.

linuxftw 8y ago

> Hip hop is huge on Spotify, where it struggled for radio play and sales before because commercial radio is so conservative. What? See how many rap albums are in this list [1]. 1: https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/2000/top-album-sales https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/2000/top-album-sale...

kristianc 8y ago
There's a bit of cherry picking going on choosing a year where Eminem and Jay-Z were at their peak. 2000 was probably one of the top three years in the last 20 or so for hip hop. Scheduling Eminem for radio play while he is arguably the biggest artist on the planet is not really going out on a limb.
- linuxftw 8y ago
  I picked year 2000 because it was well before streaming. There were dedicated rap/hip-hop stations for well over a decade at point. > Scheduling Eminem for radio play while he is arguably the biggest artist on the planet is not really going out on a limb. I mean, you can't be the biggest artist on the planet without some level of main-stream support in the first place. To say that hip-hop became more popular due to streaming is just obviously nonsense.
  - kristianc 8y ago
    In 2017, hip hop surpassed rock to become the most popular genre, according to Nielsen, and crucially that was reflected in streaming rather than album sales: > According to the report, R&B and hip-hop are now responsible for 25.1% of all music consumption in the U.S., while rock claims 23%. > Looking at the rest of the numbers listed that dissect how people are consuming these styles of music, it’s clear that streaming is to thank for the swap in ranking. Rock is far and away the winner when it comes to album sales—the genre claims 40% of all album sales in the country—but the total number of records actually purchased dwindles every year, so while that percentage may remain steady or even climb, it’s not representative of how Americans are truly consuming music. [1] [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/07/17/hip-hoprb-has-now-become-the-dominant-genre-in-the-u-s-for-the-first-time/#441f87b65383 https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/07/17/hip-hop... [2] http://www.insideradio.com/free/in-a-streaming-world-it-s-r-b-hip-hop/article_15a19a50-6ddf-11e7-87f7-87363d67cc2f.html http://www.insideradio.com/free/in-a-streaming-world-it-s-r-...
    - linuxftw 8y ago
      So what? Your original statement that rap is popular because of streaming is nonsense. Rap popularity was steadily increasing before streaming, you can't credit streaming for it's popularity.
      - wolco 8y ago
        Rap/HipHop sales have been growing since Napster compared to rock. The people willing to pay for music changed. Rap isn't more popular in general but the ability to pirate was much lower in this subgroup. So Rap sells more.. but rock concert's out sell rap concerts where indy rap isn't as celebrated as the superstar.
        scarface74 8y ago
        It had nothing to do with the subgroups availability to pirate. By that I’m assuming you mean the “urban youth”. Sale of rap and even “gangsta rap” has been dominated by White people for two decades. https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/06/really-listening/ https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/06/really-listening/

bitwize 8y ago

Hip-hop has been on the mainstream radar for about 30 years, dude. If Spotify had come out in '90 (that's a "Wonders of the World Wide Web" video begging to be made), you'd have a point. But as it is, for a while in tge early 2000s the Billboard 100 was consistently topped by R&B acts, or as Chris Rock liked to call it, "singing over rap beats". Where Spotify comes into play is granting exposure to artists who are still trying to make it, or whom mainstream radio won't play. But that's cross-genre and diesn't affect the mainstream viability of hip-hop itself.

geden 8y ago

Spotify has had a severe and negative effect on musicians who make what I term 'peak experience music'. Amazing music, but not something you listen to every day. Say you listen once a month or even just a few times a year. Before: 2 listens = dealer price of a CD in UK = about £7.5 (on a good UK indie that's split 50/50 with the artist). Now: 2 listens = income from 2 streams on Spotify = about £0.0006 I'm thinking of artists like Autechre. Spotify is starting the shape the sort of music that artists can be successful with, in a bad way.

GuiA 8y ago
If you care about an artist, buy things from them. Records, tee shirts, posters, concert tickets, etc. Streaming revenue is essentially a rounding error.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
pertsix 8y ago
This is not true/unfair interpretation. An artist does not get paid after the first payment from the label from the sale of a CD. If you play the CD on repeat, the artist does not benefit, nor does the label. /Labels/ get paid for every single listen on Spotify. There is also Spotify Direct, too, and the artist can directly benefit more than if they went with a label.
- kzrdude 8y ago
  Maybe pay per play is not fair, payout shouldn't be linearly proportional to number of plays!
- syrrim 8y ago
  huh? is label revenue unrelated to artist revenue?
- geden 8y ago
  You appear to have missed the point. I'm singling out a genre of music where you might only listen to an album a few times. So repeat plays are irrelevant.