Streaming
Music is truly the future of Music. The artiste, it seems, is pivotal to this
low-cost Internet Radio model being profitable.
Taylor
Swift, a well regarded American Musician, made it known to Apple that offering
three (3) months of free streaming was not cool as noted in the article “Taylor
Swift calls Apple Music free trial 'shocking, disappointing' in open letter”,
published June 21, 2015 By Dieter Bohn, The
Verge.
Her
blogpost on Tumblr “To
Apple, Love Taylor”, made it out plain and straight; no free Music as Musicians
don't pander for free Apple iPhones.
Truth
be told, nobody won that round, as Apple has to pay for ninety (90) days of “free
Music” with a service that’s not much different from Spotify as reported in the
article “Taylor
Swift vs Apple: nobody wins”, published June 22, 2015 by Nilay Patel, The Verge.
Not
only are the margins similar, only differing by virtue of the fact that they
intend to convert those free streamers into paying customer after a three (3)
month free trial instead of a purely free option like Spotify. Good to note
that Apple Music is available on both Apple iOS and Google Android as noted in my
Geezam blog article entitled “Apple
WWDC 2015 debuts OS X 10.11, Watch OS 2.0 and Apple Music”., but
undoubtedly most of the paying customer will be Apple users
Taylor
was right to protest Spotify back then in November 2014 and take away her 1989
album as reported in my blog article
entitled “@TaylorSwift13
leaves Spotify – How Spotify’s continues to give 37.5 million users Globally
Free Music who need to pay for Music Streaming”.
I
just think they made a bit much of it, as the result is basically the same,
with Apple footing the bill for free streaming, which they’ll probably augment
with increased advertising.
Taylor Swift and Vinyl –
Why Female Hipsters diggin’ her New Groove as Vinyl Sales Rise
Still,
I cannot deny that her Music creates sales for whoever has her in their streaming
lineup, and as of right now, that's Apple.
Spotify
will survive without Taylor Swift as they’ll need an army or artiste like Jay
Z’s artiste-curated Tidal Music that’s pushin’ HD Audio, the now-trend in music
as reported in my blog article
entitled “Jay
Z's US$19.99 Tidal HiFi launched with Artiste Backing - How HD Audio Quality
Music selected by Artiste will turn the Tide”.
This
is not just in terms of Digital Music sales but also Physical Music i.e.
CD/DVD, Blu Ray and Vinyl for which her album 1989 is the No. 1 seller for 2015
as reported in the article “Beats
1 targets hip, openminded Music fans”, published June 30, 2015 By Chris Leo
Palermino, Digitaltrends.
Here's
a sample of the Top Selling Vinyl Records up to July 2015 according to Nielsen
Billboard:
1.
34,000 for Taylor Swift's 1989
2.
32,000 for Sufjan Steven’s Carrie & Lowell
3.
26,000 for Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color
4.
23,000 for Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour
5.
23,000 for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
6.
23,000 for Miles’ Davis Kind of Blue
7.
22,000 for Father John Misty I Love You Honeybear
8.
22,000 for Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack
Albeit
not the complete list, it's enough to tell me that Taylor Swift isn't just
popular with Millennials and Hipsters. Vinyl is usually a format for much older
folks who love the rich, complete sound of the artiste.
Taylor
Swift's Music sounds sweet and syrupy with a strong infusion of Girl Power
girl-ness in her many feminist anthems that makes most men turn tune out or get
out of the room. It makes for a great mixer at a slow-dance party and a quiet
sit-down with friends and might also be popular with DJ’s, albeit decidedly
feminist and eclectic club mixers.
Vinyl Sales on the Rise
– Blank Space Nostalgia as No Bad Blood for Physical Sales
Thus,
I must conclude that her fans must mainly be female Millennial and Hipsters who
are tired of the male status quo,
albeit 34,000 Vinyl copies of 1989 is less than 3% of the 1.3 million copies of
her 1989 album sold, both Digital and Physical Sales.
This
is a stark contrast to Streaming which is up 92% from July 2014, with 135.2
billion streams as of July 2015. Meanwhile Physical Music sales have plummeted
by 4% with only 116.1 million copies sold.
Still,
Vinyl records along with those listed above are a part of the mysterious trend
towards people purchasing Physical Music that even has Vinyl Presses in Jamaica
rolling once again as noted in the article “Vinyl
Records Enjoying a Resurgence in Sales”, published Sunday March 22, 2015 by
Roy Black, The Jamaica Gleaner.
It
began quite some time ago in 2012 and has a been on the uptick since as
explained in my blog
article entitled “Statista
projecting Vinyl Records to breach 7 million Sold – Vinyl Record Pressing
Renaissance by Hipsters for owning all things Luddite”.
The
numbers are quite small compared to the US$1 billion Streaming and the still
declining Digital Music Downloads according to RIAA (Recording Industry
Association of America) stats for 2014 as reported my blog article
entitled “@RIAA
says Streaming beating CD Sales - Why HD Audio Physical Digital Music comeback
progresses as Piracy is the Problem”.
Vinyl
remains the sole bright spot in an otherwise declining Physical Music World.
Taylor Swift’s popularity is ensuring that there is no Bad Blood between
herself and Apple Music, even as nothing has really changed.
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