wondering

 

like aitch is 29 on iTunes but 1 on spotify... is it just because his audience is younger and they're more likely to stream? just seems like a big difference between the 2 platforms for a number 1 song..

I would say its a generational thing between different platforms etc

that basically is it. iTunes sales are so low now that there’s many anomalies and non hits in the iTunes chart plus 99 percent young rap fans use streaming.

i've not followed the charts for a while but are there people more likely to do better on streaming than they are on iTunes?

i've not followed the charts for a while but are there people more likely to do better on streaming than they are on iTunes?

 

More or less every rapper does better on streaming than sales (bar the occasional anomaly like that Professor Green/Alice Chater song the other week), it is pretty much just down to younger people not using iTunes any more.

 

The Aitch song did get to #1 on iTunes in the week of its release as well though (due to him heavily plugging it on social media and asking his fans to download it lol), has just had much greater longevity on streaming.

More or less every rapper does better on streaming than sales (bar the occasional anomaly like that Professor Green/Alice Chater song the other week), it is pretty much just down to younger people not using iTunes any more.

 

But shouldn't other genres benefit as much among young streamers as rap does? If not, then age alone can't be the answer. :unsure:

But shouldn't other genres benefit as much among young streamers as rap does? If not, then age alone can't be the answer. :unsure:

is rap more disposable i guess...? like i'm more likely myself to buy a song i'm really invested in than a bippity bop

is rap more disposable i guess...?

 

I couldn't possibly comment... :teresa:

 

like i'm more likely myself to buy a song i'm really invested in than a bippity bop

 

I always buy what little music I listen to - even if I liked streaming music, I simply don't listen to enough to make a streaming sub worth the money.

I guess his fans are just cheapskates :kink:

But shouldn't other genres benefit as much among young streamers as rap does? If not, then age alone can't be the answer. :unsure:

 

The demographic of rap is much younger than every other genre.

I'd say the answer is "people that don't want to/are not used to OWN music". It's not just urban but I believe people who listen to rap are not fond of owning products so much than those who love other genres (rock, pop)? Just a thought...

Edited September 25, 20195 yr by SKOB

Why would people specifically not be 'fond of' owning things... it's just more convenient (and less expensive) to stream than to download and the userbase of streaming services is naturally younger because it's a more recent innovation than music downloads (the demographics will catch up as time goes by).

The demographic of rap is much younger than every other genre.

That's pretty clear but I'm still struggling to really understand why that is. There was a time, 10-20 years ago, when loads of young people were into rock and indie, and those that weren't into guitar based stuff were heavily into dance. So what caused the heavy shift towards rap, and why is it so much bigger today than it was a few years ago?

Spotify is only one streaming platform... Amazon Music rarely gets talked about on here, but appears to account for typically 10-20% of combined sales near the top end, and tends to favour pop artists over hip hop / rap - case in point a few weeks ago when Amazon Music data was missing from the mids, Ladbroke Grove looked on course to pip Higher Love for #2 but ended up 4-5k behind at #5 when Amazon Music was finally added.

I would guess that Amazon Music has a slightly older demographic because it's a service newly offered by Amazon which has been an established name for a long time, as opposed to Spotify which was an entirely new service, so maybe older adopters of streaming would be more likely to gravitate towards Amazon Music as it's a name they're more used to? Entirely speculation though. That is a good point.

 

Weirdly Apple Music seems even more dominated by rap music (especially UK stuff) than Spotify though even though a similar argument could have possibly applied to that.

Another reason is that iTunes downloads are a one off while Spotify streams are recyclable.

That's pretty clear but I'm still struggling to really understand why that is. There was a time, 10-20 years ago, when loads of young people were into rock and indie, and those that weren't into guitar based stuff were heavily into dance. So what caused the heavy shift towards rap, and why is it so much bigger today than it was a few years ago?

 

IMO rap appeals to the young for the same reason punk did 40 years ago - anti-establishment, profane, glorifying crime & violence, etc.

It just seems there's less reason for it than in the 70's though - overall conditions for the young have significantly improved since then - or maybe it's just me getting old... :rolleyes:

Disposable cash availability is a thing, but also that the sorts of people who unironically share images about how Boomer Rhapsody is better than modern ©rap because only one person wrote it are more likely to spend money on their music to go out of their way to prove it's not disposable. Otherwise I think there's also a contributing factor in the situation that brings someone to buy a song on iTunes. It tends to correlate a fair bit to radio/TV airplay, which is predominantly gentrified.