Category Archives: Spotify

Going for a song: why music legends are lining up to sell their rights

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Stars follow Bob Dylan’s lead as streaming boom and Covid-19 upheaval fuels gold rush in song rights

Bob Dylan just made more than $300m (£227m) doing it, Dolly Parton says she might do the same, while the singer-songwriter David Crosby says he is being forced to do it. Musicians are queuing up for big paydays by selling the publishing rights to their songs, as the streaming boom and industry upheaval wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic redefines the economics of music.

Dylan’s surprise move this week to sell the publishing rights to his 600 songs, from Blowin’ in the Wind to Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, was described by the buyer, Universal Music, as one of the most important deals of all time. 

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How did Bad Bunny become the world’s biggest pop star?

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The superb Puerto Rican vocalist is now the most streamed artist on Spotify globally, but has never had a UK hit – something he’s determined to change

Each December, Spotify announces who has been the world’s most streamed artist that year, and this generally tallies with who has been popular in the UK. Drake, the Canadian rapper who has had six UK No 1 singles, was first in three of the previous five years, with fellow UK chart-toppers Ed Sheeran and Post Malone leading the others.

But in 2020, someone who has never had an album or solo single in the UK Top 100 is the world’s most popular artist: 26-year-old Puerto Rican vocalist Bad Bunny, streamed more than 8.3bn times this year on Spotify alone. Granted, he has featured on one UK Top 10 hit, but that was back in 2018, appearing on it for less than a minute: Cardi B’s I Like It. He appears nowhere in Spotify’s 50 most-played songs in the UK today, with Brits preferring Christmas classics and Gen Z pop stars such as Billie Eilish, Internet Money and 24kGoldn. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s current (and superb) single Dakiti is the most-played in the world at time of writing, earning more than 7m plays each day, 3m more than Ariana Grande’s Positions in second place.

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Joe Rogan hosts Alex Jones on Spotify podcast despite ban

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Interview with conspiracy theorist leaves streaming service in awkward position

Joe Rogan, Spotify’s biggest podcast star, has left the platform in an awkward position after conducting a lengthy interview with Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist banned by Swedish streaming company for producing “hate content”.

Rogan, the libertarian host of the long-running and wildly popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast, uploaded a three-hour discussion on Tuesday featuring Jones, the founder of the conspiracy site Infowars.

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Spotify podcast deal could make Joe Rogan world’s highest paid broadcaster

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Streaming service must convince podcast listeners to switch from their favourite app

Joe Rogan, the comedian, MMA commentator and podcaster, may seem an unlikely prospect for becoming the world’s highest paid broadcaster. But after signing an exclusive deal with Spotify, that is what he may have become, marking a new era for podcasting in the process.

To much of the world, Rogan’s name is most associated with the periodic furores that erupt from the marathon interviews around which his podcast is structured.

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Spotify vs. Apple comes to Washington

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Spotify, a Swedish service, last week blasted Apple for rejecting an updated version of its popular streaming app in the online store used by iPhone users. At issue, according to Apple, is Spotify's decision to take out a feature that let its users buy premium subscriptions through Apple's in-app purchase feature or take steps to sign up online.

Spotify accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior

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Apple is "causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers," by rejecting an update to Spotify's iOS app, goes a letter sent by Spotify's general counsel to Apple's top lawyer, reports Re/Code . The letter suggests the streaming service intends to use the issue in its fight over Apple's rules governing subscription services using its App store, and copies of it went to - among others - Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who yesterday said, "Apple has long used its control of iOS to squash competition in music."