Alice Vol. 2 No. 3

ENTERTAINMENT
Take a Chance:
Streaming Services Rejuvenate the Music Industry
By Katie Huff
A 23-year-old from Chicago, filled
with the purest form of happiness and
endless love for his hometown, made
history in February. You may have
heard of him. Among his fans are Beyoncé,
Kanye West and Barack Obama.
His most recent album is heavily influenced
by gospel music and focuses on
the many “Blessings” he has received.
He is most often seen with the number
3 stitched on his baseball cap.
Chance the Rapper made history at
this year’s Grammy Awards with his
three wins; the number three is fairly
constant in Chance’s life. He won best
new artist, best rap album and best
rap performance. The album, Coloring
Book, was released solely on music
streaming services, making it the
first album to be nominated and win
a Grammy without actually selling a
single copy.
Chance’s win lays the groundwork
for immense change in the music industry.
The Grammys would never
have considered a stream-only album
in previous years, but as the music
industry landscape changes, award
shows must adapt.
Spotify has more than 50 million
paying users, Apple Music has over 20
million paying users and SoundCloud
has over 175 million monthly users. As
streaming services such as these become
more popular, the need to buy a
CD on iTunes or at Target becomes insignificant.
The many features of each
service allow listeners to experience
their favorite songs in two clicks from
any location.
[82] Alice May 2017
With the Spotify app, you can listen
to the xx’s most recent album
through your headphones as you sit on
the beach, walk to class or wait at the
DMV. The ease with which one can listen
to music with the introduction of
these streaming services has changed
the music industry forever.
Artists are perhaps those affected
most by the push towards streaming.
Bands just entering the music industry
greatly benefit from streaming
services. Music can be uploaded to
SoundCloud in less than a minute. Any
SoundCloud user is capable of uploading
their tracks to the streaming services
and the music is available to the
public in an instant. Every minute, 12
hours of music is uploaded to Sound-
Cloud. The artists use SoundCloud in
order to increase their followers and
acquire a fanbase. SoundCloud does
not pay license holders like Spotify, so
it functions as a resource for artists to
connect with followers.
The upload process for Spotify is
done through labels and distributors
to protect against licensing issues.
Spotify has partnerships with labels
and a large percentage of the streaming
service’s profits redistributed
amongst the labels. While many worry
that streaming services put the music
industry in danger, many labels are
actually benefitting from the change.
Illegal downloads are far less common
because streaming service users can
pay a small amount for an immense
catalogue of music at their fingertips,
or they can make use of the free
streaming offerings.
Most streaming services offer artists
the ability to view their analytics.
This allows an artist to see how users
are finding their music, where their
listeners are and the listeners’ demographics.
The ease of access to statistics
such as these is beneficial to artists
as they plan how to release their
music and where to tour. Small artists
without labels are able to receive information
that they may not be privy
to otherwise.
Streaming services give artists control
of their music and diminish the
ability of large record labels to undermine
the artist. Chance the Rapper is
not signed to a label and he does not
need to be. He is able to release his
music on streaming sites and forms a
fan base through these sites. Coloring
Book debuted at Number 8 on the Billboard
200 chart, so the business model
is working for Chance. His profits come
from touring and selling merchandise,
including that famous “3” hat.
Music streaming services have revived
the music industry. Users are
able to listen to any artist at any time.
Because of streaming services like
Spotify and SoundCloud, our culture
has a widened appreciation for music
and an increased participation in the
music industry. Those that felt excluded
from music in the past are now welcomed
with open arms into the large
music communities of Spotify, Sound-
Cloud, Apple Music and Tidal. Now,
artists like Chance the Rapper consistently
contribute to the immense sea of
music found online and provide users
with an easy escape. *