Some thoughts that have been rattling around….
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This article from Forbes.
How Spotify Made Lorde a Pop Superstar (FORBES)
I was interested to read this story as I love music and technology. Basically the writer makes the case that Lorde gained the traction she needed to breakthrough because her song was added to an influential playlist on Spotify.
On April 2nd, Parker added Lorde’s single “Royals” to Hipster International, a move that would help propel the then unknown sixteen-year-old to international stardom. “The moment Lorde’s “Royals” was added to Sean Parker’s popular Hipster International playlist on Spotify, we saw an immediate reaction around the world,” Jason Flom, the head of Lava Records, who signed Lorde this spring, said in an email. “Six days later, “Royals” debuted on the Spotify Viral Chart. The plays just kept growing as word of the track spread across their network…It was the first spark that lit the blaze of attention and activity that culminated in Lorde’s incredible album debut.”
That’s a nice story. But as I read this piece I had more questions than answers. Working in radio for as long as I have I couldn’t help but wonder why something as seemingly influential as “Hipster International” has only launched a single international hit? The truth is that the reason Lorde’s “Royals” is a Much Mega Hit is because Lorde’s “Royals” is a HIT. Her marketing team just chose Spotify and then spent their money there to promote it. I cruised the list and there are many great songs, but if word-of-mouth and a nod from Sean Parker equals success, then Pacific Air should be pretty huge too.
The song is good, nice pop song, and near the top of Sean Parker’s influential list. But it is Lorde that dominates the conversation in music right now.
I have just about wrapped reading the book Blockbusters by Anita Elberse. The book offers many insights into the sociology of why the collective we, like what we like. You can read that book, then go back to this story and see that the same rules apply even if the url of the gatekeeper has changed.
Go with yourself.
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