Adele’s 21 & 18 charted in the top 20, probably because of streaming
Lots of talk about Adele sales. Not much talk about Adele music.
— Paul Cantor (@PaulCantor) November 29, 2015
Guilty here!
While the music industry either applauds or criticizes Adele for withholding 25 from streaming sites, it’s important to notice that both 21 & 18 charted in the top 20 this week, probably because of streaming.
Hypebot reported these numbers:
Adele “21” – 45,270 album project units (#8)
Adele “19” – 26,227 album project units (#17)
Am I reading that correctly? Less than 50K of units during the holiday season charts in the top 20 this week?
First off, I’m wondering if that continues with the trend of anemic sales.Secondly, I’m wondering how much of those project units came from streaming numbers!
Consumption total (album project units) = album sales + (song sales/10) + (on-demand audio streams/150)
It takes 1500 streams to equal one album sale. Note, Adele is getting 25 million listeners on Spotify this month, 1/3 of the entire platforms listeners! “Hello” accumulated another 25 million streams on Spotify in the last six days. It’s almost to 200 million streams.
* * * * *
Again, how many music consumers are still trading hard drives of music, copying CDs from the library, pirating music from download sites? Streaming killed those actions!
Adele is the biggest artist in the world right now. The last time we had this phenomenon, Michael Jackson ended up accumulating 60 million sales of Thriller.
I don’t see Adele’s new album 25 reaching anywhere near that 60 million sales equation, unless it moves to streaming.
Fans of art don’t look or act the same way.
We know many, rabid music fans buy vinyl records. Jack White expanded Third Man Records in the Cass Corridor of Detroit. Music fan paradise!
But what if you don’t own a turntable? Are you a less fan?
I don’t buy vinyl. (New baby here, folks. Need I say more!)
I’m probably not alone. Here are two ways to look at the vinyl comeback. So let’s pick a few ways music fans support art:
- some listen to a song (hopefully) 150 times on a streaming site; others make playlists and share them with friends
- some are concert goers; some bring a whole row of friends
- some are house concert attendees, and even rarer, some are house concert hosts
- some buy music on iTunes; fewer, but more rabid fans, buy on Bandcamp
- some don’t buy music but will buy the production stems and make their own videos using your music as the soundtrack
- some fans watch online concerts; others travel hundreds of miles to catch your show
- some hire you to sing at their wedding; others hire to sing at their divorce party
- some buy a CD, a few are intrigued by your cassette tape; others leave a tip in the tip jar; the blessed support that crowd funding campaign.
- some commission you to make them a song
- some volunteer at a nonprofit theater…
Avoid assuming all fans look the same way.
And, if you want to reach them, it’s good to offer a lot of different options for them to get closer to your art, and dare I say, buy it.
Last updated, Nov 4, 2015.
Here’s what I’m working on now, in no particular order:
1. Enjoying time with Ginny, my almost seven-month-old!
Current challenges: sleep schedule with time zone change!
2. Rehearsing for third leg of my tour, doing tour PR, and traveling to gigs in MI, IN, OH, PA.
3. Writing poems.
When I get 40 or 50 poems finished, I’m going to self publish a poetry book. I’m not rushing it, just doing it for fun. Here’s some.
4. Running with my dog Lois, usually through the woods.
5. Taking two online classes to keep my teaching certificate current.
(I’m taking a history class and poetry class.)
6. Teaching guitar lessons at my studio, Dixboro Guitar Lessons. Creating some promotional events for DGL.
7. Working on some guitar lesson videos for DGL.
8. Writing blogs, posting one every weekday.
Current Reading List:
- Essays: Stranger than Fiction: True Stories by Chuck Palahniuk
- Poetry: The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins
- Poetry: Best American Poetry 2015, editor Sherman Alexie
- History: Lies My Teachers Told Me, by James Loewen
- History: People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn
This now page was inspired by Derek Silver and Gregory Brown’s tweets. Go make a “now” page, then get working!
Archive:
Nov 2015 – Now
October 2015 – Now
Building a career one brick at a time; tearing it down
Building a music career is like e building a house, one brick at a time.
We can view each gig as an opportunity to find a brick:
Some bricks are bigger than others. If you play a little coffee house gig, and one new fan is made, that’s an important brick! If you get on a radio show, you might have the chance to pick up more bricks in one time.
Not all bricks are made of the same substance. Some gigs lead to fans that will follow the creative journey for the rest of our career. Other gigs lead to casual fans.
Some bricks are concrete, a fan that doesn’t miss your concert; other fans might like the music, but they’re grazing. Getting added to a Spotify playlist or being on a TV show contest might lead to a lot of these casual fans.
Usually, we talk about building an audience–we focus on growth–but what about actions that tear the bricks down?
Failing to follow through on a Kickstarter campaign is one way to lose a few bricks; a bigger way is to rip your fans off; or saying some rash, dumb stuff in an interview; being disrespectful at a concert and being two hours late to the stage…
However, being an artist is messy; art is at first criticized for challenging the themes of culture, and then later applauded for its challenge.
It’s important to remember that making art that isn’t predictable, that isn’t safe, may feel like you are losing a few bricks along the way. Dylan picked up the electric guitar in 1966 and snubbed the folk audience; now we applaud him for it. Billy Corgan challenged the alternative rock audience with electronic influences on Adore, and now electronic influences are mainstream radio.
You just never know, which is why the most important brick is the art itself.
If you make something, be thankful
If you make art, be thankful.
Some art is more popular than other art; but the opportunity to make art is the same creative process, the same joyful feeling.
Joy, luck, dedication, and yes, hard work–the ingredients to successful creation; but making art isn’t only those things; it’s liberty, chance, and freedom.
If you make art, be thankful you have the privilege to do so. (And thank you for sharing you art, too. It’s a privilege for the audience.)
