Akon, a hip-hop star who's collaborated with everyone from Eminem to Andy Samberg, is about to release
his first albums in seven years but you won't find them in stores or on streaming services like Spotify.
Instead, he plans to release four albums through a new app, making him the latest artist to experiment with
bypassing big record labels and traditional music distribution altogether. The new app, called Stadium, will
let fans stream Akon songs for free, although they'll have to put up with ads. But interacting with the app by
clicking the ads or sharing with friends on Facebook will earn users credits they can use to "buy" digital goods
such as ringtones, wallpapers and Akon-styled emoji. And, of course, to unlock more songs and unreleased
videos. "It's going to definitely regenerate the music business," Akon said in an exclusive interview with The
Associated Press, calling his app "the answer" to the music industry's problems. "It's going to take someone
like me to take the chance on it." It's not a bad deal for Akon junkies; it lets them stream otherwise unavailable
new music legally from their smartphones. For artists like Akon, this kind of independent digital route offers other
major advantages — among them, sidestepping Spotify, Pandora and their ilk. Many musicians resent those
services for offering what artists consider a tiny cut of streaming revenue. That's a big issue in the music industry,
where sales of downloaded music are falling while streaming is surging. Services like Pandora and Spotify argue
that they give out the majority of their revenue to artists and labels and the amount will only grow as more people
stream. Artists' own apps, however, can garner them a greater slice of ad revenue, while also scooping up data
on which songs fans like most and where they live. Musicians can use them to sell concert tickets, backstage
passes and T-shirts and other merchandise.
By appifying himself and going independent, Akon aims to super-serve his 60 million-plus fans on social media.
He said that roughly 200,000 people have already registered to receive the Stadium app when it's released in
the next couple of weeks.
Other artists have gone down a similar road. Radiohead released "In Rainbows" as a pay-what-you-want album
download in 2007. Lady Gaga debuted songs from "Born This Way" on a special version of the video game
"FarmVille" in 2011, and last year U2 released "Songs of Innocence" as a free album to iTunes users, sponsored
by Apple. Some acts like Macklemore, Nine Inch Nails and The White Stripes have foregone traditional record-label
deals and thrived. Streaming music, meanwhile, is exploding. It's on pace to double this year, according to Nielsen
Music data, gains that would propel U.S. "album" sales upward for the first time in four years. (Nielsen counts
1,500 song streams as equivalent to an album sale.) Streaming is "a huge piece of the business," said David
Bakula, senior vice president of analytics at Nielsen.
Source: US News and World Report
his first albums in seven years but you won't find them in stores or on streaming services like Spotify.
Instead, he plans to release four albums through a new app, making him the latest artist to experiment with
bypassing big record labels and traditional music distribution altogether. The new app, called Stadium, will
let fans stream Akon songs for free, although they'll have to put up with ads. But interacting with the app by
clicking the ads or sharing with friends on Facebook will earn users credits they can use to "buy" digital goods
such as ringtones, wallpapers and Akon-styled emoji. And, of course, to unlock more songs and unreleased
videos. "It's going to definitely regenerate the music business," Akon said in an exclusive interview with The
Associated Press, calling his app "the answer" to the music industry's problems. "It's going to take someone
like me to take the chance on it." It's not a bad deal for Akon junkies; it lets them stream otherwise unavailable
new music legally from their smartphones. For artists like Akon, this kind of independent digital route offers other
major advantages — among them, sidestepping Spotify, Pandora and their ilk. Many musicians resent those
services for offering what artists consider a tiny cut of streaming revenue. That's a big issue in the music industry,
where sales of downloaded music are falling while streaming is surging. Services like Pandora and Spotify argue
that they give out the majority of their revenue to artists and labels and the amount will only grow as more people
stream. Artists' own apps, however, can garner them a greater slice of ad revenue, while also scooping up data
on which songs fans like most and where they live. Musicians can use them to sell concert tickets, backstage
passes and T-shirts and other merchandise.
By appifying himself and going independent, Akon aims to super-serve his 60 million-plus fans on social media.
He said that roughly 200,000 people have already registered to receive the Stadium app when it's released in
the next couple of weeks.
Other artists have gone down a similar road. Radiohead released "In Rainbows" as a pay-what-you-want album
download in 2007. Lady Gaga debuted songs from "Born This Way" on a special version of the video game
"FarmVille" in 2011, and last year U2 released "Songs of Innocence" as a free album to iTunes users, sponsored
by Apple. Some acts like Macklemore, Nine Inch Nails and The White Stripes have foregone traditional record-label
deals and thrived. Streaming music, meanwhile, is exploding. It's on pace to double this year, according to Nielsen
Music data, gains that would propel U.S. "album" sales upward for the first time in four years. (Nielsen counts
1,500 song streams as equivalent to an album sale.) Streaming is "a huge piece of the business," said David
Bakula, senior vice president of analytics at Nielsen.
Source: US News and World Report