Like so many kids at the dawn of the new millennium, Michelle Maalouf knew the best place to get music was the internet. The then-teenager’s platform of choice was Kazaa, and her download list was filled with the classics of the day: boy bands, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey. …
Read More »'Yucky Blucky Fruitcake': How Doechii Is Keeping Cool With a Scorching Song
Iamdoechii’s “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” is named for an entry in the Junie B. Jones series of children’s books first published in 1992. The titular kindergartener was odd and disruptive, which resonated with Iamdoechii — Doechii for short, Jaylah Hickmon for long — as she reflected on her own childhood. On …
Read More »Spotify Has Heard Artists' Complaints 'Loud and Clear'
To all the artists and songwriters who’ve voiced their candid criticism of Spotify and its payout system to music creators over the years, the music streaming giant has a message: It’s heard you, loud and clear. That’s the name of the company’s new website and initiative, which it launched Thursday …
Read More »Hear How Hippo Campus Discovered Donnie and Joe Emerson's 'Baby'
Each week, Spotify‘s Under Cover podcast features artists who record covers of songs and discuss their decision to do so. The covers artists choose are typically big hits—from Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” to Johnny Cash’s famous cover of Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt.” So it was a surprise when indie …
Read More »Inside the Secretly Lucrative World of Solo Piano Music
On October 3rd, Michele McLaughlin got some exciting news: Her music has been streamed over one billion times. Young artists in popular genres are racking up streams like crazy these days — presumably McLaughlin is an ascendant rapper releasing 90-second battering rams through SoundCloud? Or maybe she’s the guest vocalist …
Read More »As Spotify Prepares to Go Public, Music Industry Divided on Royalties
Spotify‘s plan to go public, filed last week, could generate $23 billion and make the world’s biggest record labels hundreds of millions of dollars richer — but the Swedish streaming giant has yet to soothe grumbling and litigious artists and songwriters who say its royalty payments are unfairly low. “They …
Read More »