On the same day Kendrick Lamar fans were feverishly streaming his much-anticipated new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, the rapper himself was photographed vacationing in Ghana. On Friday, a month after the album’s arrival, Spotify released a short documentary about Lamar’s trip to the African nation, with the …
Read More »'I Talk S–t For a Living': Joe Rogan Taunts Critics in Defiant Stand-Up Set
Controversial podcaster and serial agitator Joe Rogan proved (yet again) he’s contrite in the streets, but unrepentant in the sheets as he hit the stand-up stage Tuesday night, defending himself against recent accusations of racism and spreading Covid-19 misinformation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rogan addressed his critics in an …
Read More »Spotify's Stock Market Success Says Nothing About the Future of Music
Had you invested $1,000 in Spotify on January 1st this year, you could pull out $1,800 right now. Had you invested $1,000 in Spotify in the midst of market-zapping pandemic uncertainty in March, you’d have more than doubled your money. Last Thursday, Spotify’s market cap soared to an all-time high …
Read More »Spotify Gives Left-of-Center Country Artists a Home With New 'Indigo' Playlist
“There’s alternative, Triple-A and pop. So why can’t there be pop-country and country-country?” Nikki Lane once wondered to Rolling Stone Country. “We just need two genres.” With a new playlist, Spotify is hoping to answer that call. Indigo, launching Tuesday, will be the streaming giant’s conduit for “country-country” — where …
Read More »Music Streaming's Real Value for Most Artists Is Data, Not Money
When Metallica books a tour, the band doesn’t just prepare to play its biggest hits in the biggest cities — it uses granular Spotify data to tease out the specific preferences of its city-specific fanbases, tailoring set lists to location, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek revealed on an earnings call last …
Read More »Five Times Spotify Has U-turned on Its Content Strategy
“[When] I started Spotify … I was single and 23 and spraying champagne on people in bars in downtown Stockholm … I used to think that people who went and picked up their kids from day care were losers and were checking out too early. That’s the honest truth.” Daniel …
Read More »We're All Drowning in Entertainment. Who's Going to Rescue Us?
By the time you finish reading this sentence, three new songs will have been uploaded onto Spotify.This time tomorrow, the number will have risen above 20,000 songs — a daily deluge of music which would take you a month and a half to listen to . . . without sleep. …
Read More »Hear John Legend, Joan Jett, Tony Bennett's New Christmas Songs
For the second year, Spotify brings early presents for every kind of music fan under its proverbial Christmas tree with 15 new tracks added to its hit playlist,Spotify Singles: Christmas Collection. The new batch is a mixed bag of artists, with boy band Why Don’t We’s rollicking “Feliz Navidad” to …
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