Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 59,872
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How 'Playola' Is Infiltrating Streaming Services: Pay for Play Is 'Definitely Happening'
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Playlists were once a democratic realm of tastemakers, but the most popular ones have been influenced -- and in some cases purchased -- by promotion companies, one of which was recently hired by the world’s largest music corporation.
The practice truly went aboveground on Aug. 5, when Universal Music Group named industry veteran Jay Frank senior vp global streaming marketing (reporting to Michele Anthony, executive vp recorded music, and Andrew Kronfeld, president of global marketing) and invested in his digital marketing firm DigMark (for an undisclosed amount), an innovator in playlist promotion that charges label clients $2,000 for a six-week campaign.
Pay for play “is definitely *happening,” claims a major-label marketing executive, one of several who say that popular playlists can and have been bought. Glass is less assertive: “I’ve heard scuttlebutt about it, but I don’t have concrete evidence.”
According to a source, the price can range from $2,000 for a playlist with tens of thousands of fans to $10,000 for the more well-followed playlists. And these practices are not illegal, although it would be difficult to find an official policy in the fine print. "For a while, Spotify didn't take a view" on such tactics, says one major label executive. But the company has taken a stand against commercializing accounts and playlists by rank-and-file users.
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Welp, just proof there's some form of payola / a heirarchy with everything in the industry, and 'radio has a lot of payola!' ain't a reason to have it removed from Hot 100.
One example I noticed myself (not tryna accuse the sis of payola) in June Natalia's new single was flopping BADLY on Spotify, then SKYROCKETED the same week, and Kworb pointed out why:
June 8th:
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Originally posted by iHype
Natalie La Rose's song has been on Spotify for 3 days and only has 1,538 plays.  |
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Originally posted by Kworb
Oh that explains her tweet
@natalielarose
Add my new song #AroundTheWorld to your favorite @SpotifyUSA playlists!
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The song was also added to one of Spotify's biggest playlists, then:
June 14th:
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Originally posted by iHype
Kworb, Natalie La Rose went up from 275K to 436K streams today on Spotify.  She's coming. |
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