- Radio Edit
- Posts
- Radio Edit
Radio Edit
3.17.23
Radio Edit Team
March 17, 2023
This week we take a look at why artists are putting out extra-long albums, Spotify’s creative partnership with a Spanish soccer team, and a look at some key panels at this year’s SXSW event.
Other Stories this week include Metallica buying their own pressing plant to meet vinyl demand and why both creators and fans are prioritizing early-tour concert dates.
Top Stories
The tea on TEA
Since Billboard began counting streams for its album charts nine years ago, the average number of tracks on a year-end top 10 album has risen from 13.2 tracks/album in 2014 to 19.1 tracks in 2022. This trend, referred to as “track creep”, is a strategic response to how streams are counted towards chart performance, and allows artists to maximize their potential of garnering album equivalent unit sales (TEA). Under Billboard’s current model, one album sale is equal to 1,250 premium audio streams or 3,750 ad-supported streams. Since consumers are paying a fixed subscription fee regardless, artists are incentivized to beef up their albums with more tracks, increasing their ability to hit these equivalent album thresholds and improve their chart position.
Looking at a recent example of this trend, Morgan Wallen embraced this strategy for his second consecutive album release with his 36-track One Thing At a Time. Moving 501,000 album equivalent units in its first week, the album easily finished #1 ahead of SZA’s 23-track SOS at #2. Billboard
SXSW: A Scene Report
Each year, emerging artists and music industry professionals descend upon Austin for the city’s annual South By Southwest festival and conference. With so much going on through the week, here are some notable panels that the event has seen so far:
Rapper blxst and his tight-knit team of Victor Burnett (manager) and Karl Fowlkes (attorney) share insights on how to be a successful entrepreneur and maintain your independence along the way: How music, entrepreneurship, and independence intersect
Ash Stahl (CEO, Flighthouse), Alana Dolgin (head of influencer strategy, Homemade Projects), and Mekaila Morris (senior manager of creators & content, Interscope Records) discuss TikTok’s role in making hits and how artists can meaningfully participate in the platform: The Fight for Artistic Authenticity on TikTok
Guy Moot (CEO, Warner Chappell Music), Murda Beatz, and Nova Wav discuss both new and familiar challenges songwriters and producers face, from competition with artificial intelligence to getting paid fairly and promptly: Music Publishing in the New Songwriter Economy
Spotify teams up with FC Barcelona to celebrate ROSALÍA with multi-faceted partnership
When FC Barcelona takes the field on Sunday in this weekend’s edition of the iconic El Clasíco match, they will be wearing jerseys that commemorate the one-year anniversary of ROSALÍA’s MOTOMAMI album. Looking to bring together the worlds of music and soccer, Spotify (who is FCB’s current jersey sponsor) decided to give up the space to honor ROSALÍA’s achievement of being the highest-streaming Spanish artist on the platform in 2022. Spotify choosing to execute this partnership during an El Clasíco match is significant from an exposure perspective as the event typically generates a global audience of around 650mm viewers. In addition to the on-field sponsorship, the partnership between the three will also include:
A limited-edition run of replica jerseys that fans can purchase. FC Barcelona will make 1,899 of these jerseys available to commemorate the year of the club’s founding
A super limited-edition run of 11 glow-in-the-dark logo’d shirts signed by Barca players available for purchase
Matchday playlists curated by FC Barcelona players, showcasing the songs they listen to to get motivated for the match
An interactive experience on Spotify called My Top 5: ROSALÍA Songs: an in-app experiences that allows fans to pick their top 5 favorite ROSALÍA songs and compare them to their friends’ on social media Spotify
What Else Is Going On
Signings
Tori Kelly signs with Epic Records
Big Loud Rock inks indie-rock three piece Yam Haus
Alt-rock artist LØREN signs with 88rising
WME signs Dove Cameron and and Nate Smith in all areas
OneRPM adds Chance Peña to roster
Toronto’s Half Moon Run signs with BMG
Streaming / Radio
Two new music shows heading to Amazon Music: the hip-hop focused “Rotation Roundtable” and the Latin/pop culture-centric “La Semanal Live”
Live / Touring
How Taylor Swift fans created a network of online resources to help get each other concert tickets at fair prices
“[Taylor Swift’s] shows in my city are the last shows of the tour, so I didn’t want to watch the whole thing play out on TikTok and feel like I had already gone.” Why both creators and fans are prioritizing early-tour concerts dates
Label
Warner Records launches dance label, Major Recordings. The Sam Mobarek-led label’s first signing is the artist project of producer duo Parisi
How labels are facilitating the popularity of sped-up song versions on social media
Days after Apple Music unveiled its new standalone classical app, UMG acquires classical label Hyperion Records
EMPIRE founder Ghazi Shami launches new distribution platform, Supply Chain
Miranda Lambert splits from longtime label home, Sony Music Nashville
Other
A decade after acquiring the rights to some of their biggest records, Metallica purchases Furnace Record Pressing to press all catalog and future records
While streaming has essentially wiped out the market for digital song downloads, online retailers like Beatport who cater to DJs have seen download sales increase by 5-10% every year since 2017
How some artists are now using NFTs to build fan community
2022 saw US’ recorded music growth slow for first time in seven years
Brittany Schaffer, head of artist/label partnerships at Spotify Nashville, appointed dean of Belmont University’s College of Entertainment and Music Business
SM Entertainment’s stock falls 23% after HYBE withdraws their bid to control their rival
SESAC acquires AudioSalad, a distribution and content delivery platform
Appointments / Departures
Appointments
Alex Coslov elevated to VP of Marketing Strategy at Republic Records and Head of Marketing at Mercury Records
Pandora’s Johnny Chiang expands role as he will now oversee country programming at Sirius XM
Republic Records names Michael Allen VP, Marketing Strategy
Veronica Sanjines in as new GM at Arista; will oversee label operations for Maneskin, Tai Verdes, JP Saxe and more
Former artist/manager partnerships lead (hip-hop/r&b) at TikTok, Shawna Spears, joins Venice Music as VP of Brand Marketing
BMI promotes John Coletta to SVP & MD, International
Departures
WMG CFO Eric Levin to retire
Upcoming Shows
Chicago | Mar 17 | Emotional Oranges | House of Blues | Tickets
LA | Mar 18 | Arizona Avenue | Universal Bar & Grill | Tickets
LA | Mar 22 | Grace McKagan | The Echo | Tickets
NYC | Mar 22 | Ari Lennox | Terminal 5 | Tickets
Featured Releases
Lana Del Rey / The Grants (S) / Polydor / Interscope
::::
Maddi Jane / Rockstar (S)
::::
Yves Tumor / Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (A) / Warp
Charts
Featured Job Posting
STEM
Director of Artist & Label Strategy, Hip Hop / R&B
Los Angeles
Apply Here
Contact / Subscribe