If you’re from outside of Scandinavia, you probably have no idea who Jonathan Johansson is. Let me fill you in. He’s a very hip Swedish artist who has been steadily building a healthy fanbase in the Nordics with the aid of his label, Hybris.
It was recently reported in Denmark’s Børsen newspaper (equivalent to the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal) that Jonathan Johansson made more than $20,000 from streaming services alone in the first month of his album being available. This includes services such as Spotify and TDC Play. Even more interesting is the fact that this represents approximately 83% of his total income from digital services, including downloads, in Sweden. Not bad for an indie-pop artist singing in his native language.
Assuming fans keep listening to his music, this income should remain at a similar level beyond the release date, because unlike à la carte downloads or physical product, each play is monetised.
His label, Hybris, took the novel approach several years ago of lobbying their government, creating The Swedish Model along with 5 other independent labels pushing for increased licensing of their music to streaming services – even before the advent of Spotify. Using innovative ideas, offering 50/50 deals with their artists – and most importantly their ear for a potential hit – they’re widely regarded as one of the coolest labels in Europe right now.
Jonathan’s success on streaming sites, which has been replicated by other artists of similar calibre in these countries, raises interesting questions for music marketing professionals. Rather than setting a release date after the bulk of promotion, it often makes more sense for Hybris to get albums out as soon as they kick-off their promo run. They want listeners, not buyers.
Hybris’ Mattias Lövkvist is convinced that this is one of the reasons why Jonathan Johansson’s album became such a success. “With Spotify,” he says, “you can see a very strong connection between an album that’s been getting a good welcome by the media and the streams. Going from reading the daily magazine reviews and clicking on your computer once to hear the music is a very easy process. [...] In a way we see a situation returning to how things were in the 90s, with media (traditional as well as new media) playing a bigger role and where sales charts better reflects what people listen to.”
The market has become the pin-up of the access model and Lövkvist claims “If you are on the top list of the 100 most played at Spotify you are a star. Since they have such a massive number of users in Sweden, it’s the first service since the arrival of the CD that has made itself culturally relevant.”
The jury is still out on streaming for many, as critical mass has yet to be achieved in most of the major music markets, but it’s extremely interesting to see these revolutionary changes happening beyond the traditional heartlands of the music industry.
Listen to Jonathan Johansson’s Klagomuren on Spotify or find him on iTunes.
Well folks, the time has come. Verizon is to shut down its MP3 business. Starting this Sunday, April 1st (it’s no April Fool’s joke my friends!), RealNetworks will halt its ingestion of new content from Verizon. Current content in the Verizon MP3 catalogue will continue to be available until the service completely shuts down on May 17th, at which point all MP3s in the Verizon catalogue will be no more than a memory. However, ringtones and ringback tones will continue to be available, for all callers’ and being-called’s listening pleasure.
But that’s not all!
On a lighter note, Verizon FiOS just rolled our their new Facebook Timeline. With it, they launched new entertainment hub features, which means more opportunities for artists to build and promote music programs. With almost 80,000 “Likes” on their page and a renewed focus on programming and content, that’s definitely good news and bodes well for the development of an engaged social community. You can expect collaborations with Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody and more in the forms of playlists, live streams and video content.
One of FiOS’ big advantages is their targeted markets, which allow for increased success with geo-targeted promotions. So take the time you need to mourn the end of Verizon MP3s and meet us on the next boat with the exciting opportunities ahead with Verizon FiOS.
Dear _________________ (band, artist, musician, PR company, etc.),
Please stop the constant barrage of self promotion. I have no interest in promoting your band on Facebook or Twitter. And neither does anyone else. If you don’t know this, you don’t understand the fundamentals of social networking.
People use social networks to express themselves. A status update, a photo, a link to a video or article, my favorite movies, books, television shows and bands are all just expressions of who I am. These are tools I use to tell the story of “ME.” If you understand this, I may be able to promote your band after all.
Knowing that my musical tastes are an expression of who I am as a person, what are you doing about that? What kind of passion do you elicit from me? Do you know what I like? Do you know who I am? Do you care?
I am happy to share your new video, your upcoming gig info and your new release but I am not doing it to help you. I am doing it for ME.
March is Metal Month and who better to celebrate with than Nuclear Blast?! Not only can you find all your favorite Nuclear Blast face. melting. metal. at Spotify, you can also listen to Meshuggah‘s brand spankin’ new record, Koloss – officially out this week.
Additionally, the fine folks over at Nuclear Blast personally curated 3 fabulous playlists for your listening pleasure: you can pick between a Meshuggah Spotlight, Nuclear Blast’s Heavy Hitters or Nuclear Blast’s On The Rise - all not-to-be-missed.
Now, some would think, how could this get better? We’ve got a new Meshuggah record, Nuclear Blast playlists, face-melting, march, madness, metal… not much could make one person happier. But it does get better. It gets better because Nuclear Blast is giving away FREE STUFF. That’s right WIN FREE STUFF! All you have to do is subscribe to any of the three playlists mentioned above to enter to win killer Nuclear Blast booty. You’re listening anyway, might as well subscribe! Might as well up your chance to win Nuclear Blast Booty! You’re welcome.
So what are you waiting for?! March ain’t over yet! Check out all the March Metal Madness right now at Spotify, and enter for your your chance to win.
Recent rumors abound that Spotify is seeking a massive round of venture capital funding – a round that would value the company at a reported $3.5B. Initial reactions seem to be, essentially, “Wow, that’s high.”
Indeed, $3.5B is a lot of money. But there are many persuasive arguments to the effect that Spotify is worth it, especially in view of its growth relative to other players in the digital music space, including and especially iTunes. Matt Rosoff of Silicon Valley Insider does a very nice job identifying the cases for a $3.5B Spotify.
I want to point out something else: that Spotify, at this point in its 6-year history, needs to lay claim to enough money to make good on its goals. Right now. Here’s why, as I see it.
Their goals are, as explicitly stated or implied by their actions, extremely ambitious. The company seeks to:
That’s all. Then add the fact that these goals find the company swimming in the same waters as the following companies:
