Spotify befriends Perry in quest to win artistes’ favour
FANS of pop star Katy Perry woke up on Friday to an email on their smartphones: Her new single, “Chained to the Rhythm,” is available for streaming.
They got another reminder when they logged on to Facebook, where Perry is liked by more than 70 million people. As if that weren’t enough, Los Angeles and London fans on their daily commutes were greeted by billboards.
The best part for Perry? It’s all free. Spotify, the world’s most popular paid music service, will run a months-long promotional campaign leading up to the summer release of Perry’s fifth studio album, her first since 2013’s chart-topping “Prism.” The company’s marketers will continue to work with the singer to prove they can help sell records and concert tickets better than any radio station or rival streaming service.
“They were the ones who said, ‘We want to make this a big part of what we’re doing, we want to give you every level of support,’” said Martin Kirkup, a partner at Direct Management Group, which represents Perry. “We didn’t ask for a billboard. They offered it.”
Stockholm-based Spotify has been criticised by artistes in the past over the royalties it pays and the use of their music on its free tier — Taylor Swift famously refused to offer her new album on the service in late 2014. Amid the sparring with record labels and preparations for an initial public offering, the company spent the past year building teams and services to improve its relationship with the industry.
“We’ve done a lot of thinking about how to position ourselves and be a better partner to the artiste,” Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer, said in an interview. “We didn’t have an artiste marketing team before, and we have that now. That was a direct consequence of dialogues between Troy and I, and with artiste managers and labels.”
Troy is Troy Carter, a veteran manager and now Spotify’s global head of creator services. A Philadelphia native, Carter started his career working with rappers like Will Smith, Eve and Nelly, before moving to Los Angeles and signing the client that would turn him into an industry giant: Lady Gaga.
Carter was already an investor in Spotify through an angel fund when he joined the company in June as chief liaison to the music industry. He recruited a small team of executives from record labels, music publishers and ad agencies to help Spotify respond better to the needs of artists.
“That’s my task,” Carter said in an interview.
Spotify has begun to see results. The head of The Weeknd’s label, Republic Records, praised the company’s “historic” support after the R&B singer smashed the streaming service’s record for plays in a single day. His album “Starboy” went on to rule the charts for five weeks. A promotion with singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes was expanded to his upcoming arena tour. Spotify helped sell advance tickets and is now talking with his manager Andrew Gertler about further promoting the tour.
Spotify’s size makes it hard for artistes to ignore. The service surpassed 100 million users last year, including more than 40 million subscribers, many of whom pay US$9.99 a month. Its more than 60 million free users hear advertising and don’t enjoy the same functionality. Yet Spotify continues to lose money, because of high licensing costs, and needs to strike new deals with the major labels to maintain its access to top artistes.
Longtime holdouts to streaming, from the Beatles to the Black Keys, have eventually given in and put their catalogues on Spotify and other services. Some of the most popular music by Prince, who pulled his catalogue from Spotify before his death last year, is returning to streaming services this weekend.
Streaming services were the single largest contributor of sales to the US music business in the first half of 2016, surpassing revenue from iTunes, Amazon and physical purchases, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. — WPBloomberg
We’ve done a lot of thinking about how to position ourselves and be a better partner to the artiste. — Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer