Conquering the US or Europe isn't the same because once you smash in the US, you smash in the US. Maybe not the entire country's listening to you but you're still known.
If you, however, smash in Germany most of Europe is still not going to care for you.
Yep, the best example is UK X factor, winners/popular contestants usually smash in both albums and singles yet no one cares for them anywhere else, despite them singing in the most accessible language and all.
I'd say conquering the U.S. as a whole and conquering Europe are about equal. I mean the U.S. and Japan each have about the same amount of market power as all of Europe and Oceania combined when it comes to music so
But not only music traditions matter, why aren't the big or respected rappers slaying world wide too?
I remember watching this live ( the awards were in Madrid) , you could clearly see that no one in the audience gave a single flying **** about Kanye West
Of course there's always regional artists. But a #1 in Romania is not going to pick up as likely in the rest of Europe as a #1 in the US is inevitably going to be popular in that country, no?
I'm not saying either is harder just that it's not the same.
Conquering the U.S., as in getting a song to be big enough that it does become the #1 in that territory, is about as big of an accomplishment as getting a song to be a smash throughout Europe. You're dealing with a very diverse, competitive marketplace either way. In Europe, you've got multiple languages and countries/cultures. In the U.S., you've got a huge amount of variety in regional genre preferences and regional politics. New York City and Arkansas are as different as any two European countries. I'm not comparing a song that smashes in the U.S. to a song that hits #1 in Romania. I'm comparing a song that smashes in the U.S. to a song that smashes throughout Europe.
Streaming will keep killing off digital sales and albums no matter who or what's released, but the first half of this year was slacking in terms of just the popular music itself too.
But we don't have enough big releases to come close to saving the tanking though. We've got Taylor, Adele, Rihanna, and...?
Streaming sucks. I love it as a consumer and it's so convenient, but I'm sad to see it killing other formats.
However, it may be a good move for the industry since it seems to be helping to provide a legal and paid alternative to piracy.
But not only music traditions matter, why aren't the big or respected rappers slaying world wide too?
That's exactly my point though. The U.S. is such a powerful musical force that we have multiple genres that are "local" and competing for spots at the top of the chart. R&B, rap, country, etc. all don't really happen outside of the U.S., but they all compete for the U.S. #1.
Conquering the U.S., as in getting a song to be big enough that it does become the #1 in that territory, is about as big of an accomplishment as getting a song to be a smash throughout Europe. You're dealing with a very diverse, competitive marketplace either way. In Europe, you've got multiple languages and countries/cultures. In the U.S., you've got a huge amount of variety in regional genre preferences and regional politics. New York City and Arkansas are as different as any two European countries. I'm not comparing a song that smashes in the U.S. to a song that hits #1 in Romania. I'm comparing a song that smashes in the U.S. to a song that smashes throughout Europe.
Language is bigger factor when it comes to music than politics
Am here for Streaming since it's basically guaranteed to exceed the profits paid music made but it's so weird to think buying music will never be a thing again.
It'll also suck future artists like Rihanna / Katy will get 50 #1's since anytime they release a music video whether the song is good or not it's getting streams to go #1.
P!nk, Bruno, Gaga (BTW), Justin, and Taylor all outsold it by a large margin.
But it will end up selling over 1.5 million, was acclaimed and became full of fan favorite songs, spawned a massive Mrs. Carter World Tour over a year after it was released and got select songs performed from it at the Super Bowl in front over 100 million people.
Also its sound was a precursor to the oncoming retro/minimalism trend, so it was ahead of the curve. She was doing that while pop was right in the middle of the dancepop obsession. Only her & Adele were giving off those types of vibes that year, if I remember correctly. And now it's the main thing.
Top 40/Pop radio throughout the entire US have about the same playlists. If your song is a hit on z100/kiss than it's very likely smashing in the rest of the country as well.
Top 40/Pop radio in each European country is different. It's not comparable
I'd have to get used to the fact that I won't own any tangible music on my mobile device. It'll just be on a playlist on a streaming app, someday, I guess (idk how it works in detail tbh).
