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It was the moment many had been waiting nearly a year for — a chance to hear just how Chris Rock would finally address Will Smith’s Oscar night smackdown of the comedian on the Academy stage with a slap that will live in infamy.
Perhaps because Rock knew much of the audience who tuned in were waiting for just that moment, he saved it toward near the end of his set Saturday night (March 4) during Netflix’s much hyped first live special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage!
But when the moment finally came, Rock didn’t hold back — taking down Smith, dragging his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and targeting the couple’s marital issues (in which Pinkett Smith acknowledged a relationship with singer August Alsina as the couple addressed their marriage on an episode of Red Table Talk).
“Will Smith practices selective outrage,” Rock told the audience. “Outrage because everybody knows what the f— happened. Everybody that really knows, knows that I have nothing to do with that s—. I didn’t have any entanglements.”
He continued, “His wife was f—ing her son’s friend. OK, now, I normally would not talk about this s—, but for some reason, these n—-s put that s— on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do something that lowdown. What the f—? And we’ve all been cheated on. Everybody in here has been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television.”
“She hurt him way more than he hurt me. Everybody in the world called him a b—-. I tried to call the motherf—er, I tried to call that man and give him my condolences, he didn’t pick up for me.” He continued by listing all the people who called Smith a “b—-” after that interview on Red Table Talk, including Charlamagne Tha God and The View. “Everybody called him a b—-, and who did he hit? Me — a n—a he knows he could beat. That is some b—- ass shit.”
While this is not the first time Rock addressed Smith’s slap — much of Saturday’s material was present in his shows as he toured the country over the past year — they were the first comments before a wide audience as Rock headlined Netflix’s first foray into live programming, a global event that featured a pre-show and post show with guests that included Arsenio Hall, Amy Schumer, J.B. Smoove, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dana Carvey and others.
“I’m gonna try to do a show tonight without offending nobody,” Rock said, kicking off his stand-up special from Baltimore. “I’m gonna try my best because you never know who’s going to get triggered.”
He added he didn’t mind “wokeness” but isn’t a fan of the “selective outrage,” the kind of people who will listen to Michael Jackson but not R. Kelly: “same crime — one of them just got better songs.”
Among the topics Rock covered included the Capitol Riots: “White men trying to overthrow the government that they run?” Rock said. “They’re like, ‘Damn, we gotta get them out of office.’ Who? Us?”
Later, he touched on the idea that white men felt they were being edged out of power, and joked whether commercials featuring interracial couples were part of their ire.
“There’s no Black couples either,” he said. “Every commercial has a mixed-race couple,” adding that he saw a commercial the other day where a Japanese woman was married to a caterpillar.
“By the way, speaking of commercials, when did Snoop Dogg become Morgan Freeman?” Rock joked. “I saw a commercial the other day where Snoop was selling reverse mortgages.” But he made it a purpose to note that he loves Snoop Dogg. “I’m not dissing Snoop. The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” he added, to cheers from the crowd.
But of course, the rapper who was the main target of the night was Smith, though a good deal of his ire was directed toward Pinkett Smith. Rock recalled when Pinkett Smith had called for Blacks to boycott the Oscars amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016; Rock went on to host that year’s show.
“She started this s—. She said that me, a f—ing grown ass man, should quit his job because ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion,‘ and then this n—a gives me a f—ing concussion.”
Toward the end of the special, Rock changed his tone a bit, saying, “I loved Will Smith. My whole life, I loved Will Smith. I saw him open up for Run-D.M.C. … He makes great movies. I have rooted for Will Smith my whole life,” Rock said. “And now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped.”
Rock used the last minute of Selective Outrage to answer the question he’s gotten a lot since the Slap: Why didn’t you do anything back? “‘Cause I got parents,” Rock said. “‘Cause I was raised. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
The pre-show featured appearances from fellow comics and Rock’s friends, including Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld. The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng hosted the special, with Hall, Deon Cole and Leslie Jones also appearing.
Chieng kicked off the night live at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store.
“I cannot emphasize how live things are today,” The Daily Show correspondent said. “We are live from two different locations simultaneously, Los Angeles and Baltimore. Why? For absolutely no reason. This is extremely expensive and difficult and irritating.”
The comedian also poked fun at how they’re doing a live comedy show on a Saturday night, a concept that has existed for decades, aka Saturday Night Live.
Chieng then introduced Hall, who shared how Rock got him back into stand-up. Toward the end of his brief set at the Comedy Store, Hall said that he hopes everyone enjoys the night “because I know somewhere Will Smith will not.”
“Trust me. We won’t know this, but I bet you Will Smith slaps the f— out of a TV tonight,” he joked. “He gon’ knock that motherf—er off the wall.”
Matthew McConaughey, Ali Wong, Woody Harrelson, Paul McCartney, Rosie Perez, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Ice-T, Adam Sandler and many others wished Rock luck ahead of his live event.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Morgan Wallen‘s new album, One Thing at a Time, is already breaking streaming records in its first day of release.
With 52.29 million streams on Friday (March 3), according to Spotify, the country star’s 36-song project has set the record as the service’s most-streamed country album in a single day by a male artist.
Wallen’s One Thing at a Time has also had the largest streaming debut of any genre in 2023 so far on Spotify.
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On release day, Morgan was the most streamed artist of the day in the U.S. and globally on Spotify.
Spotify additionally tells Billboard that on Saturday (March 4), 31 songs from the album are in Spotify’s Top 50 U.S. chart, including “Last Night” at the No. 1 spot with 3,143,730 streams.
Spotify partnered with Wallen to celebrate One Thing at a Time at the hitmaker’s high school, Gibbs High School in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday. Wallen surprised students with a concert on the school’s baseball field, featuring several songs from his new project. The students were treated to Wallen’s favorite concessions, plus a photo booth that transformed snaps into exclusive baseball cards, courtesy of Spotify.
Wallen presented the school’s principal with a check for $35,000 from the Morgan Wallen Foundation to go toward performing arts and sports programs.
Morgan’s previous album, the 30-track Dangerous: The Double Album, was released in 2021 and still remains in the Billboard 200’s top five.
The areas of the audio marketplace with the highest growth rates don’t involve music or young people. As online listening growth slows and smartphone ownership is nearly ubiquitous, podcasts and audiobooks stand out in Edison Research’s The Infinite Dial 2023 report.
In 2023, weekly podcast listening reached 40% of people aged 12 to 34, up from 33% in 2022; and 39% for the 35-to-54 age group, up from 31% the year before, the report states. The 55-and-over audience remained at 14% after falling from 17% in 2021. The average U.S. podcast listener averages nine podcasts per week, with 19% listening to 11 or more.
Those growth rates contrast with slowdowns in smartphone penetration (now at 91% of the U.S. population), social media usage (flat at 82% of the population for three straight years) and monthly online audio listening (up slightly from 73% in 2022 to 75% this year).
But podcasts appear to have room for more growth. The percentage of people who listened to a podcast in the last month was 42% — 28 percentage points lower than online audio listenership.
About 183 million people — 64% of the U.S. population 12 and over — has ever listened to a podcast. That’s up from 44% of the population five years earlier and 27% a decade ago.
Audiobooks are also growing. The percentage of Americans who listened to an audiobook in the last year rose to 35% of the U.S. population — up from 28% a year earlier — or about 100 million people. Still, there’s lots of room for growth, and companies will likely see that percentage as an opportunity to introduce the format to new listeners.
Podcasts and audiobooks are tangentially related to music in the streaming age. Digital platforms increasingly combine music and non-music content to keep listeners engaged and make the apps more attractive to subscribers. To improve both its product and margins, Spotify has invested handsomely in podcasts — from DIY tools like Anchor and Megaphone to content creators Gimlet, Parcast and The Ringer — as well as audiobooks, through the acquisition of audiobook distribution platform Findaway.
Streaming companies tend to obsess about young consumers, but the growth opportunity appears to lie in older age groups. Edison found that 89% of the 12-34 age group listened to audio online in the previous month, up from 87% in 2022 and 86% in 2021. The 35-54 age group’s monthly listenership rate improved from 72% in 2021 to 81% in 2022 and 85% this year. The 35-54 age group’s podcast listening improved from 43% in 2022 to 51% this year — a big leap, but still below the 12-34 age group’s 55% mark.
The often overlooked 55-and-over age group has significant room to grow. Its monthly online listening rate stands at just 53%, up from 52% in 2022 and 46% in 2021. The age group is also slow to adopt podcasts. Just 21% of people 55 and over listened to podcasts in the last month. Worse yet, the 55-and-over crowd is losing enthusiasm: Its monthly podcast listening rate was 22% last year and 26% in 2021.
The other major trends found in the report reflect smartphone penetration, the prevalence of mobile broadband and the use of mobile operating systems in cars such as Apple CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto. In the last decade, the percentage of U.S. consumers who have listened to AM/FM radio in the car dropped from 84% to 73%, while CD listening declined from 63% to 29%. SiriusXM satellite radio use in the car improved from 15% to 20% over that time, while online audio jumped from 12% to 37% on the same metric.
Written By D.L. Chandler , Senior Editor Posted 7 mins ago @dlchandler123 D.L. Chandler is a veteran of the Washington D.C. metro writing scene, working as a journalist, reporter, and culture critic. Initially freelancing at iOne Digital in 2010, he officially joined the iOne team in 2017 where he currently works as a Senior Editor […]
With clever wordplay, a quirky sense of humor and an imaginative way of utilizing samples, De La Soul have long been celebrated as one of the most creative, influential groups in hip-hop.
However, throughout the lifetime of digital music streaming, the first six albums created by Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove and Maseo have been more-or-less unavailable thanks to sample clearance issues and various other industry hurdles.
Finally, in the summer of 2021, that began to change. Rights to the Long Island trio’s former label Tommy Boy were acquired by Reservoir Media – and after that, it was a matter of time before the group retrieved their masters.
Now, those first six albums are finally available for public consumption in the digital domain. Unfortunately, the long-overdue campaign transpires as De La Soul copes with the Feb. 12, 2023, death of Trugoy (born David Jude Jolicoeur) at 54. A cruel twist of fate, but the newfound availability of their catalog will no doubt only punctuate the importance he had on the hip-hop landscape.
The newly available sextet of albums consists of the trio’s classic 1989 debut 3 Feet High and Rising; its follow-up 1991 masterpiece De La Soul Is Dead; 1993’s jazzy Buhloone Mindstate; 1996’s rugged Stakes Is High, 2000’s Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump; and 2001’s AOI: Bionix.
These albums join the trio’s more recent albums – including 2004’s The Grind Date and 2016’s And The Anonymous Nobody… — on Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and the like, giving a brand new generation of music fans the opportunity to discover the humor, intelligence and poignancy De La Soul brought to the table for decades.
But if you’re not already a De La diehard, where do you start in their catalog to best absorb the essence of the knowledge kicked by the Plugs? Most everyone somewhat familiar with the group knows their biggest hit, “Me Myself and I,” which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1989 and reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. And while the tune is a perfect conduit into the heart of hip-hop’s Daisy Age, De La Soul have so many classic jams that it’s unfair for them to be defined strictly by their biggest hit.
For better acuity, Billboard has selected 10 additional De La Soul cuts that stand as the trio’s finest works on wax to wit. Rest in Peace, Dave.
“Royalty Capes” (2016)
After a 12-year break between albums (although the period did see them collaborate with the Gorillaz on the top 20 Hot 100 hit “Feel Good Inc.”), De La returned in 2016 with And The Anonymous Nobody…. Lead single “Royalty Capes” let everyone know they were back for their flowers, with majestic trumpets announcing the trio’s return. Adding further gravitas is the song’s video, which is prefaced by Dave detailing his congestive heart failure diagnosis.
“Rock Co.Kane Flow” feat. MF Doom (2004)
We should be thankful we got at least one De La/DOOM banger while MF Doom and Trugoy still walked among us. On this song from 2004’s The Grind Date, the Supervillain and the Plugs tear up a hallelujah beat by Seattle’s Jake One. Before this song, the closest Doom and De La ever got to collaborating was when 3rd Bass’ “The Gas Face” (the recording debut of Doom) was sampled for the De La Soul track “Oodles of O’s” more than a decade earlier. Listen here.
“Trying People” (2001)
The final track on the second installment of the intended AOI trilogy is hip-hop at its most emotional. Few emcees could invoke such weight like Trugoy, who rapped in the same key of sincerity that the likes of Billy Joel and Paul Simon sang in. And on “Trying People,” he lets us in like never before as he admits: “Years just blow by /My eyes stay fixed but the picture’s kinda outta focus / I cry a lot but admit to it / Enjoyin’ life now but I’ve been through it.” Exhibiting this kind of vulnerability was practically unheard of in the rap game at the time. But the honesty Trugoy displayed on this song no doubt opened the doors for acts like Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar. Listen here.
“All Good?” feat. Chaka Khan (2000)
In contrast to Dave’s lament about R&B singers over BS tracks on “Stakes Is High,” De La Soul recruited genuine soul royalty in 2000 with Chaka Khan singing the hook for this successful single off the trio’s fifth album Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump. Despite its pessimistic chorus, the song itself found Pos and Trugoy in top lyrical form as Ms. Khan cruises inside a funky De La beat. “All Good?” also brought the group some chart action, reaching No. 96 on the Hot 100, No. 6 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 41 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Listen here.
“Stakes Is High” (1996)
One of Dove’s hottest moments on the mic was his indelible list of grievances in the second verse of the J Dilla-kissed title cut to De La’s 1996 classic Stakes Is High. “I’m sick of R&B b-tches over bullsh-t tracks, cocaine and crack that brings sickness to Blacks,” he laments over a reverberating horn blast plucked from the 1974 Ahmad Jamal song “Swahililand,” speaking on the toxic flamboyance of that mid-‘90s era. Listen here.
“I Am I Be” feat. Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee-Wee Ellis (1993)
If “Buddy” was a declaration of unity among the Native Tongues crew, this somber missive from 1993’s jazzy Buhloone Mindstate reveals fractures in the bond keeping the crew together. “Or some tongues who lied/And said ‘We’ll be natives to the end,’” Pos laments over a beat sourced from the Lou Rawls hit “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and featuring the legendary JB Horns (Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee-Wee Ellis) on brass. “Nowadays we don’t even speak/I guess we got our own life to live/Or is it because we want our own kingdom to rule?” It’s that level of pure honesty that makes “I Am I Be” such an essential part of the De La songbook. Listen here.
“Keepin’ the Faith” (1991)
Another crowning example of Prince Paul’s penchant for seamless sample layering. Here, he brings together 10 different songs — including snippets of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” and “Just A Touch Of Love” by Slave – to build an unstoppable groove. Pos and Trugoy bless this beat burger with some of their best verses on De La Soul Is Dead, flexing inside slang with a bravado that brings it on home. Listen here.
“Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” (1991)
The first single off their post-Daisy Age masterpiece saw Pos, Trugoy and Maseo set the scene for East Coast hip-hop in the early ‘90s with this ridiculously funky lament, built around an obscure 1981 disco song by The Whatnauts, about cats hassling the guys to check out their demo tapes. In a tribute to Dave on social media, Pos alluded to the tune when he wrote “for now on when we perform ‘Ring Ring Ring Ha Ha Hey’ we will say ‘2-2-2-2-222 we got an angel in heaven who can talk to you.’”
“Eye Know” (1989)
This 3 Feet highlight is an early example of the genius of producer Prince Paul and his crafty deployment of samples. On this uplifting love song, it’s the combination of Otis Redding’s whistle from “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” the guitars and horns from The Mad Lads hit “Make This Young Lady Mine,” the drum break off Lee Dorsey’s “Get Out Of My Life, Woman” and the vocal hook from “Peg” by Steely Dan that gives Pos and Trugoy their wings to fly high on a lyrical plane that finds both men extolling the virtues of ascending to De La heaven.
“Buddy (Native Tongue Decision)” feat. Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and Jungle Brothers (1989)
Native Tongues were one of the all-time great crews in the hip-hop storybook. And while it’s unfortunate the conscious posse never lasted long enough to create a full album together, “Buddy” forever offers a taste of the magic captured by De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah and Monie Love on this ode to friends with benefits — with Trugoy leading the charge. Check out the seven-minute extended remix for maximum boogie. Friendship never sounded so fresh on wax. Listen here.
Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge announced that the company had entered into a new partnership with Deezer during an earnings call on Thursday (Mar. 2nd). The goal? To help develop a “new model” that “ensure[s] continued growth of streaming” while also valuing “the contribution of both artists and fans alike.” UMG previously touted a similar partnership with TIDAL in January.
The need for a “new model” — also highlighted in Grainge’s letter to staff from January — was a recurring theme of Thursday’s call. “Streaming has evolved in a way that undervalues the critical contributions of many an artist as well as the engagement of many fans,” Grainge said. This unfortunately flouts “the basic unarguable truth that is: The artists are the center of everything in the music ecosystem,” he added.
UMG executives offered scant details about what this new model would look like, even when asked directly about the topic, saying it was too early to tell. One key element for Grainge appears to be that “artists are rewarded for the fans they bring in [to subscribe to streaming services] and the engagement they drive [on those platforms].” In addition, he hoped that fans would be “offered more ways to engage.”
These sentiments were echoed by Michael Nash, UMG’s executive vp and chief digital officer. Streaming platforms can do “a better job of monetizing these high integrity, high intense artist-fan relationships,” he said. “That will come with superfan monetization. We’ve been speaking with platforms…about the enhancement of offers to the consumer that reflect the engagement with artists that are really driving the economic models of the platform.”
UMG executives also praised the streaming services that have raised their prices recently, mentioning Apple and Amazon by name (twice). “Fans recognize the enormous value offered by music subscriptions, still a relatively low cost, high-value form of entertainment, which in turn has supported decisions made by a number of our DSP partners to raise prices recently,” Grainge said.
But not all streaming services have gone this route. Grainge added, pointedly, that “ensuring the artists’ work is properly valued should be a critical goal for everyone who wants to keep the industry growing.”
In addition to discussing the future of streaming, UMG executives spent a notable portion of the conference call explaining to analysts, in defensive tones, their place in a highly competitive catalog acquisition landscape and the strategy they use to evaluate potential purchases. Grainge said UMG sees “almost everything” in the music rights investment space that goes up for sale and passes on “most of it” because it does not meet the company’s standards for returns.
He also asserted that many competitors in the catalog acquisition space are “passive participants who do nothing and therefore cannot exploit the full potential” of the rights they own. “There are many who claim they actively manage rights, but they do not,” Grainge said. “Why? Their lack of infrastructure, their lack of experience and expertise and even more critical, in many cases, their inability to acquire all of the rights necessary to actively manage anything.”
Acquisitions “are an important, although relatively small proportion of our total business today,” UMG’s CFO Boyd Muir added during his remarks. “But we will continue to be opportunistic, to add to a roster of iconic artists, in a financially disciplined way.”
Generative artificial intelligence is currently one of the hottest topics in Silicon Valley, and its impact is already being felt in the music industry. BandLab — the music-creation app that has become popular on TikTok — relies on AI as the engine for its tool SongStarter. Users can lean on it to generate beats or melodies at random, or prompt it to spit something out based on specific lyrics and emojis; BandLab’s 60 million registered creators are churning out more than 17 million songs each month, including breakout hits for dv4d and ThxSoMch.
The tracks that emerge from BandLab depend on the interaction of human creators and AI. That holds true for some of the companies focusing on functional audio as well. LifeScore, which uses AI to “create unique, real-time soundtracks for every journey,” relies on “Lego blocks of sound all made in a studio by real musicians playing real instruments through lovely microphones,” says co-founder/CEO Philip Sheppard. Even the sound of a stream trickling through a forest comes from “someone going out with a rig and standing in that stream and recording it.”
The AI kicks in when it comes to assembling that sonic Lego. “The AI is saying, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be delightful if these could arrange themselves in this different way?’” Sheppard explains. “’How about if we could turn that into eight hours that felt like it was original every time you listened to it?’”
All results of these processes may not work. “Unsuccessful soundscapes are generated all the time,” says Oleg Stavitsky, co-founder/CEO of Endel, which offers an app that generates music designed to help users focus, relax or sleep. “Each soundscape goes through a multi-step testing process: from automated testing, detecting sound artifacts and bad sound combinations to in-house testing to our community testing.” That community includes some 4,000 people who provide feedback through Endel’s Discord channel.
“We put human eyes on everything before it goes out,” says Alex Mitchell, founder/CEO of Boomy, a company that offers aspiring musicians the chance to make songs in seconds with help from AI tools. Since 2019, Boomy users have created over 12 million songs. “We have a generic content policy that basically means if all you’re doing is pressing buttons and we detect that, then your release probably won’t be eligible for distribution,” says Mitchell. “We reject way more releases than what gets submitted. That way we’re not flooding the [digital service providers] with a bunch of nonsense.”
How will Boomy scale this approach as it attracts even more users and generates even more millions of songs? “We’re hiring,” Mitchell says.
Entertainment industry veteran and Live Nation Urban vp Brandon Pankey has announced the launch of Artist Presented Experiences (APEX), an advertising-based video-on-demand streaming network exclusively featuring programming presented by and for music artists.
Set to launch Tuesday (Feb. 28) on iOS and Android, APEX will offer a range of diverse and artist-centric content, including original scripted, unscripted and licensed programming. The network is powered by brand services agency Quantasy + Associates.
APEX’s programming lineup features content designed to allow artists and production partners to deliver their unfiltered creative vision directly to fans, with programming partners including Raedio, Complex Media, Mercury Studios, Live Nation Urban, LVRN co-founder Sean Famoso and director Stacey Muhammad (OWN’s Queen Sugar, BET’s First Wives Club). The network’s slate of original programming includes Raedio Presents The Playback, executive produced by Benoni Tagoe and Morgan Davis; On the Record, executive produced by Muhammad and Marc Lamont Hill; SuperShorts, executive produced by Famoso; and Help Wanted, a scripted comedy series executive produced by Max Smith and Atlantic Records recording artist Symba. Other original series slated for release on the platform this year include titles such as How I’m Livin, Ring Walk, APEX Acoustic and Generally Speaking.
APEX has also secured licensing agreements for episodic content from Complex Media (Brackets, Making It) and music documentaries from Mercury Studios, a division of Universal Music Group, featuring music superstars such as Amy Winehouse, J Balvin, Tupac Shakur, Miles Davis, Queen and Joni Mitchell. APEX will additionally offer exclusive themed national and international concerts and events.
“The vision for APEX has never been more clear,” said Pankey in a statement. “Artists deserve a platform to share their stories and connect with fans in a meaningful way. APEX has been a dream of mine since I started in the music industry. We’re providing a first-of-its-kind network exclusively featuring programming presented by and for music artists, allowing them to showcase their unique perspectives and creative visions. Artist innovation and creativity now has a home to live and to thrive.”
For more information on APEX and its programming slate, please visit watchapex.com.
French music streaming company Deezer reported on Tuesday that its 2022 revenues rose 13% to 451 million euros ($478 million), as the company reduced its losses by 18 million euros ($19.1 million) through a combination of growth through partnerships and eliminating marketing spend.
The company reported its adjusted gross profit rose 16% to 98 million ($104 million) euros in 2022 versus 2021 on greater margin improvement. The 18 million euros ($19.1 million) the company reported in savings came partly from growth — Deezer grew its top line by 51 million euros ($54 million) and improved gross margins by 30 million euros ($32 million) — and partly from reducing its marketing spends in certain emerging markets.
For years since its 2007 launch, the Paris-based company angled to gain customers by partnering with telecommunications companies. But under new chief executive Jeronimo Folgueira, Deezer has focused on a business-to-business (B2B) approach, aiming to gain more streaming users in major markets through partnerships with companies that already have established customer bases.
That piggy back approach — which is already in place with Sonos in the United States, RTL in Germany and DAZN in Italy — allows Deezer to reach prospective customers in major markets without investing to build a brand first. Folgueira, who joined Deezer in June 2021, says 2022’s earnings show the strategy has legs, and he expects his company to generate revenue growth of more than 10% in 2023 as they work toward achieving profitability by 2025.
“All of the ground work on B2B that we’ve been doing is starting to pay off,” Folgueira tells Billboard. “Those deals are just the beginning. We want to enter markets through partners, and we are targeting the United Kingdom and other major European markets like Spain.”
Last year, Deezer partnered with German broadcast giant RTL Deutschland to deliver music and video content over the app RTL+ Musik, putting Deezer in a position to compete in the crowded streaming space in the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music market, and it teamed up with the Italian sport subscription streaming platform DZAN.
This year, Deezer struck a long-term agreement with the U.S. speaker and hardware company Sonos to power its Sonos Radio and subscription service Sonos Radio HD, a deal that will extend Deezer’s reach to 16 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Deezer remains strongest in France, where it is bundled with telecom company Orange and has 4.4 million subscribers, and in Brazil, where it partnered with TIM Celular in 2016 and has 2.7 million subscribers, according to company filings. Worldwide, Deezer has 9.4 million subscribers compared with Spotify’s 195 million subscribers and 273 million free (ad-supported) users, while TME has 82.7 million paying subscribers, according to the companies’ latest earnings reports.
The company was among the first DSPs to raise prices last year when it upped the price for an individual plan to 10.99 euros ($11.66) per month from 9.99 euros ($10.60) and family plans to 17.99 euros ($19.09) per month from 14.99 ($15.91).
Those hikes helped deliver a 14.3% increase in the company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2022. Deezer had 9.4 million subscribers as of Dec. 31, 2022, down 2.2% from a year earlier.
“On the year as a whole, there was basically no impact on churn despite a roughly 10% price increase,” Folgueira says. “People are willing to pay more for proper quality music.”
Spotify is putting emerging U.S. songwriters under the RADAR.
The streaming giant this week launches RADAR Songwriter in the United States, its development program which promises a leg-up for its songwriter participants.
Grammy Award-winning songwriting and production team Beach Noise is the first U.S. act to join the program, which is activated following a soft launch last year in several international territories.
Hailing from Stockton and Los Angeles, Beach Noise is the trio of Matt Schaeffer, Johnny Kosich, and Jake Kosich. The creative team has worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Bakar and Baby Keem, and is credited with producing and writing six of the tracks on Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, which bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2022. One of those numbers was “The Heart Part 5,” which collected a brace of rap categories at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Beach Noise and other songwriters selected for RADAR Songwriters should benefit from a raft of spotlights and promotional pushes across Spotify’s considerable network.
Those selected will appear on a bespoke cover of the RADAR Songwriters playlist (and their recent releases are added to the playlist); they’re featured in both local and global Spotify creative marketing campaigns; participants will receive promotion on Notable, Spotify’s home for songwriters and producers, by way of a dedicated blog post or interview and social support to amplify the news; and their recent releases will be included on the Noteable Releases Playlist.
Also, explains a rep for Spotify, songwriters tapped for the campaign will receive a dedicated “Written By” playlist that will should earn prominent placement in global spots featuring emerging talent such as RADAR and the Songwriters Hub.
Previous international rising talents celebrated by the program include Natali Noor (Sweden), Alessandro La Cava (Italy), Nathan Galante (Mexico), and Chiiild (Canada).
Spotify unveiled RADAR in March 2020, its global emerging artist program that unites the streaming service’s various domestic and international programs under a single name.
Through the pandemic, Spotify’s numbers continued to grow. According to its earning report published earlier this year, the Sweden-based business ended 2022 with 205 million paid subscribers, up 5% from 195 million in Q3. At the same time, Spotify’s total monthly active users (MAUs) reached 489 million, up 7% from 456 million in Q3.