BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Bulletin SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country YOURAlbu DAILYms; BrettENTERTAINMENT Young ‘Catc NEWSh UPDATE’-es Fifth AirplayFEBRUARY 23, 2021 Page 1 of 26 Leader; Travis Denning Makes History INSIDE Spotify Stock Hits New High, Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil- (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debutsValuing at No. 1 on Billboard’s Companylion audience impressions, up 16%). at $72B Top Country• How Albums Music’s chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earnedBusiness 46,000 Managers equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive cordingAre to Nielsen Tracking Music/MRC Data. andBY totalGLENN Country PEOPLES Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends SouthsideRevenue marks — And Hunt’s second No. 1 on the 2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions. chartGetting and fourth Their top Artists 10. It followsBoosted freshman by newsLP from Spotify’s global Stream On music licensingYoung’s costs. first On thatof six front, chart Spotify’sentries, “Sleep spend With- - MontevalloBi-Weekly, which Paychecks arrived at theevent summit Monday in No - (Feb. 22), the company’s share price ing matchesout its You,” ambition. reached Most No. notably, 2 in December Spotify 2016. paid He vember 2014 and reigned for ninereached weeks. To an date, all-time high of $387.44 at midday. During $100 millionfollowed to exclusively with the multiweeklicense The No. Joe 1s “InRogan Case You Montevallo• Country has earned Radio 3.9 million units, with 1.4 Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved millionConfronts in album a Jumbled sales. the presentation, CEO Daniel Ek and a host of execu- Podcast, a consistentYou” (three, top January podcast 2018), since “Mercy” its arrival (two, August on MontevalloFuture: ‘We has Need spent to267 weekstives on the announced list, tying plans to launch in 80 new mar- the platform2018) in December. and “Here Tonight” Other deals (two, show April 2019). Spotify is LukeThrow Bryan Out’s Crash Our 1980sMy Party as thekets sixth-longest-; upcoming podcasts from Barack and Michele looking beyond“Catch” celebrity completes podcasters his longest to attract journey smaller to No. 1, Playbook’ running titles in the chart’s 56-yearObama history.’s production company, Higher Ground; new creators. Megaphone, having takenacquired 46 weeks into reachNovember the apex., inserts It out- On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar- paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.” • UK Government tools for do-it-yourself podcasters; and a high-def- audio advertisements into podcasts. New self-serve rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for Unveils Roadmap for HUNT YOUNG after the No. 3-peaking Montevalloinition. audio tier to match existing offerings from tools for Anchor,a new high.the podcast app it purchased in the Return of Live Hunt first released the EPX2C Amazon,, which debuted Qobuz, Tidal and Deeper. 2019, as well as new monetization options announced Music and peaked at No. 5 on Top CountryRemarkably, Albums in Spotify’s August 2014.enterprise Following value hit $72 bilCOMBS ‘DOES’- Monday,IT AGAIN Lukecould Combs also attract’ “Does “longto Me” tail” (River podcasters House/Columbia and, Montevallo• Music, Between Creation the Pines: lion,Acoustic twice Mixtape the €30 started billion at its($36.5 No. 7 billion) high in valueNashville), of featuringeventually, Eric Church more, ascends advertisers. 11-8 on Country Airplay, up 10% to NovemberPlatform 2015. Splice Universal Music Group, Spotify’s largest music24.7 supmillion- in audience.Not everybody The song isis Combs’ buying eighth the growth straight strategy career-opening — at Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly Raises $55M plier. But investors’ initial enthusiasm faded away as least not at current valuations. Credit Suisse ana- Airplay:Following “Leave Recordthe Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make promoted No. 1 singles. Spotify’s share price dipped into negative territory lyst pegs Spotify’s value at just $315 You MissYear Me.” for Payouts“Break Up in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2. Church adds his 15thBrian Country Russo Airplay top 10. Hunt co-penned all 12 songsjust on Southsidethree hours, including later and “Body ended Like the a Back day down 4% per share and expects “disappointing” subscriber Road,”• whichFin: Why was Daft released in 2017.from The the smash opening hit ruled price Country at $349.91. Airplay For for all of THATSpotify’s TOOK QUITEadditions ‘A FEW’ in MONTHS2021. But Travis other Denning analysts shatters see opportu the record- for three weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “After Punk Was the Most hard work, the realities of running a streaming audio nity ahead. Stifel’s John Egbert, with a price target chartInfluential for a then-record Electronic 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil - company are unavoidable: Margins are slim and com- of $360, sees benefits from geographic expansion FloridaAct Georgia of Its TimeLine’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18). lion in radio reach. “Downtown’s Dead,” which ispetition also on theis strong. new set, reached Nos. 14 and 15 The song surpassesand expected two tracks price that hikestook 50 in weeks select each markets. to enter Morgan the top 10: on Hot• CountryThomas SongsRhett and CountrySince Airplay, 2019, respectively, podcasts havein June been 2018. central “Kin- to EastonSpotify’s Corbin ’sStanley’s “A Girl LikeBenjamin You,” which Swinburne reached No., who 10 in puts January the stock’s2018 be - folks”Announces led Country Three- Airplay on Feb.growth 29, becoming strategy Hunt’sand goal seventh of improving No. 1. It hit the company’sfore peaking at No.value 6 that at February,$350, likes and Spotify’s Aaron Watson expansion’s “Outta potential Style,” andwhich Night Stand at Billy No. 3 on Hot Country Songs. margins. Original and exclusive content notachieved only at- its No.leadership 10 high in December in audio 2017.streaming. LatestBob’s single Texas “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his “After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker tract listeners but can help ease pressure from rigid (continued) eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018. ETHAN MICHAEL YOUNG: VIA MARTIN/NHLI GETTY HUNT: IMAGES. IMAGES MILLER/GETTY CONGRATULATIONS _ .MICHELLE . 'RICHBURG BILLBOARD • • 2021 • • TOP BUSINESS • • MANAGER • • For over 30 years, Michelle Richburg has developed a specialized niche in the financial services industry as a "Banker to the Stars". Her stellar reputation allows for a client list that includes high profile professional athletes, entertainers, and business leaders . • • • • • • • • Page 3 of 26 IN BRIEF For its part, 12-year-old Spotify argues the (90 million) and Kenya (population 53 mil- are turning to their future royalties for a streaming audio business is still in its early lion) can amount to big paydays for stream- lifeline and need to know exactly what stages and that growth, not profits, should ing services. they’re expected to earn altogether in order be its focus. Its subscribers grew to 155 to borrow against it or to maximize the price million at the end of 2020, and it expects to their copyright interests can command on finish 2021 with 172 million to 194 million. How Music’s the soaring music-asset market. “We’re committed to building the world’s Until recently, music’s business managers leading audio platform,” said Dawn Ostroff, Business have largely had to manually input earn- Spotify’s chief content officer and advertis- ings into spreadsheets to track their cli- ing business officer, during Monday’s event. Managers Are ents’ proliferating revenue streams. But last Aside from purely advertising impacts, the July, HIFI, a new financial services compa- combination of spoken word with music Tracking Revenue ny catering to the music community, quietly may increase listening time and reduce launched an invite-only royalty dashboard churn, a particularly nefarious problem for — And Getting that pulls in data from publishers, dis- subscription services because acquiring new tributors, performance rights organizations customers increases sales and marketing Their Artists Bi- including DistroKid, TuneCore, AWAL, and expenses. SoundExchange. Eight months later, HIFI An expanding footprint will also help Weekly Paychecks has become a popular tool among music’s Spotify grow beyond its core European and business managers, and signed up thousands North American markets. An additional 80 BY MICAH SINGLETON of mostly independent artists, tracking many markets — in unnamed countries in Africa, “tens of millions” of dollars, says Matt Pin- Asia and the Caribbean — will increase new startup is offering to help cus, an investor and board member of HIFI. Spotify’s addressable market “to more solve what’s become an unlikely Now HIFI founder and CEO Damian than a billion people ... with nearly half mystery for music’s top artists Manning is expanding access to its service of them already using the internet,” said and their business managers: how called “Cash Flow” that allows artists to get Ek.