Record of the Week
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ISSUE 754 / 16 NOVEMBER 2017 TOP 5 MUST-READ ARTICLES record of the week } CISAC reports global Sober Mary J Blige. Produced royalty collections for by Maths Time Joy, the songwriters, music Mahalia track has received some composers and Asylum/Atlantic Records serious love online from publishers grew by Sober: out now / Album: Spring 2018 The Fader, Dummy and 6.8% to €8bn in 2016. Complex, including a recent (RotD) Sober from 19-year-old session video for the Berlin- singer-songwriter Mahalia is based Colors studio that has } Steve Stoute launches an exquisite R&B gem that clocked up over 1.9 million in three months last night (15 Mixmag, her music is quickly UnitedMasters, with showcases why she is a views on YouTube. Her music November) at the Hoxton becoming synonymous with backing from Alphabet. rising star and one to watch has so far amassed over eight Square Bar and Kitchen, the trials of everyday life for (Medium) for in 2018. With its chilled million combined streams Mahalia will be supporting today’s youth. And if, like boom-bap beat offering and garnered support from Jorja Smith on her UK tour us, you adore clever and } Viagogo and Stubhub a gorgeous soundbed for 1Xtra, Radio 1, The Guardian, in February next year before expressive songwriting with have their offices Mahalia’s smooth vocals, the NME and a position within headlining Omeara in London a luscious vibe and sublime raided. (Guardian) track effortlessly glides along i-D’s prestigious Class of on 14 March. Recently hailed vocals, then Mahalia is one in a hazy vibe reminiscent 2018 list. Having played her as the “Lauryn Hill of the artist that you need to add to } Musical.ly sold to of early Erykah Badu and second sold-out London date Snapchat generation” by your radar. Chinese social media company. (TechCrunch) CONTENTS } Spotify to sell beauty products - but not as P2 Streaming data insight a revenue stream. into the consumption of (TechCrunch) Christmas songs P4 Alexis Castiel, co-founder of on-demand, community-led vinyl production site Diggers P4 Alexis Castiel - Diggers Factory P5 Be Good – Compass P8 Ava Rene – Records of the Week Factory interviewed 1 feature Rob Crutchley, Insight & Analysis, BPI Research Department, examines how streaming data is providing some interesting insights into the consumption of Christmas songs The era of music streaming has undoubtedly outside of the festive season, it is possible to cumulatively streamed almost 1.7m times in that there are quite a few listeners reluctant to given us a great deal of new insight into look at the plays accrued by these Yuletide the first week of 2017. The play count doesn’t relinquish the joy of listening to festive music. how people listen to music. In the age of favourites in the run-up to the end of the year settle down to under 200,000 until the eighth Even though some of these plays will have purchasing all that was officially recorded and effectively estimate at what point we start week of the year where it remains until that come from artist playlists, clearly some people was what was bought – there was no looking forward to Christmas. first week in September. This seven-week do Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. information available on how many times, or Streaming is not quite as December- ‘hangover’ from Christmas 2016 suggests for how long afterwards, the music fan would centric as purchasing – only 11.4% of the listen to that particular album or track. The 2016 play total took place in the last month PLAYS OF POPULAR CHRISTMAS SONGS, WEEKS 1-42 2017 increasingly rich data that is coming to us now of the year. The final week of the year is, around streaming is helping to fill in these unsurprisingly, the peak period for Christmas previously uncovered areas - the charts are listening. In the streaming chart for week now as much about measuring the ongoing 52 2016, four of the top five (including the consumption of music as the initial point of number one) most-listened to tracks were purchase. Xmas-themed*. There were 28 tracks It’s already well-established that Christmas released prior to 2016 that were played over is a key time for the recorded music industry, 1m times in that seven-day period and we with getting on for a quarter (23.7%) of all used those as the base of our analysis. the CDs sold in 2016 being purchased in the What that analysis showed was that, last month of the year. It’s also worth noting if cumulative plays of those tracks were that Christmas-themed albums and tracks analysed on a week-by-week basis throughout are among the most-purchased historically: 2016, the point at which the streaming total Now That’s What I Call Christmas has gone started incrementally increasing was chart through various iterations over time but data week 36**. In every subsequent week up to from the Official Charts Company shows that the end of the year the play count rose, so it has sold over 1.8m copies since the end from this it could be deduced that the music- of 2012. It’s perhaps less well-known that listening public is already starting to gear up SHARE OF TRACK’S TOTAL PLAYS Michael Buble’s Christmas is the 4th biggest for Christmas at the beginning of September. Mid Feb to August 2016 selling artist album of this decade, behind only This trend is borne out by streaming data Adele’s 21 and 25 and Ed Sheeran’s x. we’ve seen for this year too – for those same 1 East 17 Stay Another Day 10.0% 2 The Pogues ft Kirsty Maccoll Fairytale of New York 5.1% Streaming data means that we can now 28 tracks, plays started increasing, again, in 3 Coldplay Christmas Lights 3.9% also assess the popularity of Christmas music the very first week of September. 4 Pretenders 2000 Miles 3.2% 5 Mariah Carey All I Want For Christmas Is You 3.1% beyond the last few weeks of the year, when We also looked at how listening to these 6 Wizzard I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday 3.0% it’s most commonly bought. While there are songs was spread throughout the earlier 7 Kylie Minogue Santa Baby 2.8% 8 Wham! Last Christmas 2.8% no huge revelations to be unearthed about the part of the year. It’s interesting to note, 9 Jona Lewie Stop The Cavalry 2.5% volume of plays of Christmas-themed tracks for example, that these 28 tracks were 10 Michael Buble It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 2.5% }} 2 feature (cont) gigs Recommended London gigs Friday £ Connie Constance, Camden Assembly NW1 Monday So, what of the period in between? We *Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is £ Soule, The Waiting Room N16 analysed plays in 2016 for each track from You (number one); Wham’s Last Christmas £ Callum Beattie, Camden Assembly NW1 week 8 to week 35 (i.e. late February to the (number two); The Pogues ft Kirsty Maccoll’s £ John Joseph Brill + Bryde, The Lexington N1 end of August) to see what percentages Fairytale Of New York (4); Shakin’ Stevens’ £ Her, Omeara SE1 of their year-long listening tally this stretch Merry Christmas Everyone (5). Clean Bandit’s £ Stella Donnelly, St Moritz W1 accounted for. Across all 28 tracks it Rockabye was at number three. amounted to 2.4% - perhaps not a great Tuesday amount on the face of it, but it’s still surprising ** Chart week ending Thursday 8 September £ Benny Mails, Birthdays N16 to learn that Mariah Carey’s All I Want For 2016 £ The Orielles + Sports Team + Horsey + Hotel Lux, Christmas Is You – as unquestionably great Old Blue Last EC2 as it is – was listened to over 16,000 times in £ Hunter the Bear + Coin + The Ninth Wave, the first week of July. Hoxton Bar & Kitchen N1 Of all the 28 tracks, however, the greatest £ Blue Hawaii, Pickle Factory E2 percentage of a song’s 2016 listening £ Matt Woods, Bush Hall W12 accounted for by this period took place on East 17’s Stay Another Day (10.0%). That Wednesday high share may be because it is one of the £ Mansionair, Birthdays N16 least explicitly festive-themed of all the tracks £ Promiseland + Bad Gyal + Denzel Himself + Fredwell, under scrutiny, although it is undeniably Old Blue Last EC2 associated with Christmas: its play count in £ Aine Cahill + Katie Von Schleicher + Mikaela Davis, the final week of 2016 was over 100 times Hoxton Bar & Kitchen N1 that of the total in its least-streamed week in £ Rhys Lewis, Oslo E8 August. £ Rukhsana Merrise, Notting Hill Arts Club W11 As more people stream music, will we see £ Malena Zavala, Shacklewell Arms E8 an even greater proliferation of Christmas music in the December charts? In the final Thursday week of 2016 there were 13 Christmas- £ City Calm Down + Wild Front + Moncrieff, Hoxton Bar & themed tracks in the Official Top 40 Singles Kitchen N1 Chart – in the same week in 2015 there were £ Bad Sounds, Scala N1 only seven. Could this be the year that a £ Joy Crookes + Aware + Naar, Old Blue Last EC2 Christmas classic tops the chart? £ Flies + Flies, Servant Jazz Quarters N16 £ Ten Tonnes, Birthdays N16 }} 3 interview Alexis Castiel, co-founder of on-demand, community-led vinyl production site Diggers Factory, explains how the platform is fostering communities, informing labels of in-demand vinyl records and how its model differs from crowdfunding working with a network of factories, mastering forget it, and we also take care of the shipping How do you overcome the delays that studios and distribution networks, the platform when the production is finished, all as part come with pressing times? looks to provide a “full turnkey” solution to of the service.