sheepfilms
No title available
@theartofmadeline
Game Changer & Make Some Noise
roma★
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Xuebing Du
Monterey Bay Aquarium
tannertan36
Mike Driver
art blog(derogatory)
if i look back, i am lost
No title available
Cosimo Galluzzi
untitled
Sade Olutola
titsay
Jar Jar Binks Fan Club
🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
Game of Thrones Daily
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from Philippines
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Mexico
seen from United States
seen from United States
@awaldotcom
A LOT of incredible independent artists released music last month to start the year 💪🏻. This AWAL First playlist was tough to make with so many great tracks out in 2017.
BUT, here it is! Listen to new music from RAY BLK, DESTRUCTO, R3hab, Elderbrook, of Montreal, Paces, POND, and more 💥: https://awal.lnk.to/awalfirst
AWAL Year in Review
2016 was crazy, right? On AWAL, we put out more albums, had more streams, and worked with more artists than ever before. When it came to the end of the year, we started to look though the vast quantities of data we'd collected to see what trends and patterns could be found, and today we're launching a minisite that lets you see some of the interesting insights we discovered.
Check out the AWAL Year in Review.
It'll come as no surprise to anyone that the story from last year centers around streaming—in fact, in 2016 across our whole catalog, people listened to 17,000 years of music from AWAL through streaming services.
AWAL in 2016
If you dig into some of our Top Tracks and Artists, you'll see massive tracks discovered on AWAL that are driving this explosion in listeners. VÉRITÉ tops our Tracks and Artists lists, as she's seen huge streams coming in across a range of tracks. In particular, her cover of The 1975's "Somebody Else" now has over 50 million plays on Spotify alone. She's just released a new single “Phase Me Out” on Kobalt Music Recordings, which already has over a million streams. Her debut record arrives later this year.
If you look further down the lists you'll see some global smash hit singles from artists like FRENSHIP, NEIKED and Calum Scott all of which have broken through on streaming services and got their start via AWAL. There's also a host of rising stars like Becky Hill, Ray BLK, Tom Misch and many more that are set to really explode this year.
Music in 2016
So that's what our year was like, dominated by the rise in streaming. But how did that growth effect how people listen and discover to music? We took all of a data as a whole - terabytes of it - and several interesting things came to our attention.
For example, we can see that the time someone is most likely to stream music is between 3pm and 6pm on a Friday afternoon. Friday's in general are the biggest day, no doubt due to New Music Friday and fans checking out what new releases are out. In contrast, people listen to music the least on Sundays.
So, which fans are the most passionate? We looked at how engaged fans are on a genre level - i.e. how many times they listen to each track, or how likely they are to add it to their library. Hip Hop fans come out on top, closely followed by fans of Rock music.
Similarly with playlists, rather than look at simple numbers of streams you get from a playlist, or the amount of followers, it’s more important to know how engaged the fans that listen to a playlist actually are. You can have a look at the Top 5 engaged playlists on both Spotify and Apple Music on the site.
AWAL in 2017
We have all this data on all of these massive tracks, the next step is to take that insight to look ahead of this year and see what tracks on the platform might be the next ones to really take off.
In the Trending for 2017 list you'll see a wide range of different kinds of artists like Le Youth, Yung Lean, Saint PHNX and many more. Their streaming numbers indicate a promising year ahead.
Because we work with such a wide variety of artists, there's probably some you're going to love, and others you might not. Wouldn't it be great if you had a personalized version of this list, so you can listen to a load of great new music personalized for you?
Well that's exactly what we've done.
If you go to the last section of the site and login with your Spotify details, our tool scans the music you listen to and matches that data against our 2017 Trending Tracks to generate a custom playlist of incredible new music for you.
2016 was a great year for AWAL, and 2017 is shaping up to be even better.
Create your personalized playlist now. Happy listening!
AWAL FIRST
🔥 independent artists on this month's AWAL First playlist. Start your year right!
YUNG LEAN, Us The Duo, Fickle Friends, To Kill A King, LE YOUTH, Lulu James, Lewis Watson, R3hab, and many more.
Great music here: https://awal.lnk.to/awalfirst
The State of Streaming in 2016
For the first time in 20 years, the music business is enjoying economic growth. It’s predicted that industry revenue will double in the next 10 years, with success fueled by paid streaming subscribers and the competition between platforms to get them.
A recent report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) showed 112% year-over-year revenue growth from over 100M music streaming subscribers. Paid streaming users generated $1.01B for the industry in the first half of 2016, and Spotify UK was profitable by $1.8M, with subscriptions being the biggest income channel.
There’s never been more ways to make money, but it’s hard to keep up with everything. We broke it down for you.
Here are some of the biggest milestones this year:
Spotify: 100M users, 40M paid, 60 countries
January - buys Cord Project and Soundwave to expand social features and messaging.
March - Releases new discovery playlist series called “Fresh Finds,” featuring five different genres playlists and one that’s all-encompassing.
April - Billboard partners exclusively for new chart information and Spotify buys CrowdAlbum to create new marketing tools for artists.
May - announces 12 original video shows and expands it’s $14.99 family plan to six users
July - Releases two radio shows called AM/PM and Secret Genius, which feature artist-hosted content.
August - Launches ‘Release Radar,’ an personalized Friday playlist that features personalized new releases.
September - Launches in Japan, reaches 40M paid subscribers, a huge leap from the 30M reported in March, releases new algorithmic personalized playlists, “Daily Mix.”
November - Acquires Preact, a cloud based platform and service.
Notable Partnerships: Headspace, Sonos, Tinder, Headcount.org, ACE Media, Sonos, ATTN, Bumble, Playstation, Capitol Hill, Amazon Echo, Genius, Runkeeper App, Google Cloud Platform, Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) National Teacher of the Year Program.
Apple Music: 20M paid users, 115 countries
January - Incorporates iTunes Radio into Apple Music and makes Beats 1 a lone free-to-stream offer.
February - Apple Music's first scripted TV series, featuring Dr. Dre, announced and the 1975 teamed up with Beats 1 for a live streamed performance.
April - Android phones get music video support and family membership option.
May - Drake’s album Views hits 1M downloads in less than 5 days of Apple exclusivity.
June - New design launches. The service includes lyrics, a daily curated playlist, and a downgrade of the social feed Connect.
August - 10th anniversary Apple Music Festival made available live and on demand. It featured Alicia Keys, Elton John, Calvin Harris, Britney Spears, and more.
November - Invests in assets from cloud music provider Omnifone.
September - Offers gift cards + annual rate of $99 and updates design.
December - Surpasses 20M subscribers 17 months after launch.
Notable Partnerships: Sonos, Dubset Media Holdings, NBC Sports, NASA, T-Mobile, Carpool Karaoke, Bloomberg Radio, Cash Money Records, Deutsch Telekom.
Notable Artist Exclusives: Future, Drake, Chance the Rapper, Dreezy, Katy Perry (single,) Travi$ Scott, Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift film.
Amazon Music Unlimited: Paid user # unknown, 4 countries
October - launches in US with several price tiers and Garth Brooks on streaming services for the first time.
November - Expands to UK, Germany, and Austria.
Their offering is slanted to appeal to the 350M Amazon accounts open in 180 countries, including an estimated 69M Amazon Prime subscribers.
Deezer: 16M users, 6M+ paid users, 180 countries
January - Raises $109M in funding
June - Livestreamed PJ Harvey, Hellfest, and more.
July - launches in US.
October - partners with Feature.fm to allow artists to pay for play.
August - launches new TV app.
September - $14.99 family plan announced.
Soundcloud (Go): 175M users, paid user # unknown, 7 countries
March - Soundcloud Go launches, offering more music ad-free and offline.
May - launches in UK and Ireland.
June - ‘Suggested Tracks’ launches.
September - launches in Australia, rumors that Spotify might purchase, and 3-month for $0.99 promotion.
Notable Partnerships: Sonos, LANDR, Stagelight.
Tidal: 3M paid users, 52 countries
February - tops the app store after exclusively releasing Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo.
March - Celebrates 3M+ users on one year anniversary
May - Beyoncé’s Lemonade brought 1.2M new subscribers.
October - Livestreamed Robin Hood Foundation benefit event featuring Jay Z, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, TI, and more. This was one of many events available live.
Notable Exclusives (video or album:) Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Bon Jovi, Nick Jonas.
Google Play: Paid user # unknown, 62 countries
March - new desktop player released and “last song you Shazamed” radio station integration.
April - launches podcasts within player, including Radiolab, The Nerdist, and more.
November - redesign launches with a focus on personalized playlists and recommendations.
Notable Partnerships: Trip Advisor, Runtastic, LyricFind, Shazam, YouTube Red (overlapping memberships.)
YouTube Red: Subscriber number unknown, 4 countries, 1B monthly users on YouTube
February - original programming launches.
July - extended promo trial of Google Play + YouTube Red free for four months.
August - YouTube Red support added to the YouTube Kids app.
That being said, it is still estimated that 820M people use YouTube to listen to music for free.
Napster: 3.5M paid users, 34 countries
May - launches Rhapsody VR app.
June - Rhapsody re-brands as Napster.
November - Sprint integrates with subscription option in overall wireless bill and Napster posts 1.6M profit for the past quarter.
December - Announced partnership with iHeartRadio to power their All Access tier.
WORTH NOTING
Pandora re-branded with premium option and launched a new web platform this year. Following their 2015 acquisition of Ticketfly, Rdio, and Next Big Sound, they also teased images of their on-demand streaming platform, Pandora Premium, due to launch in 2017.
Sirius XM’s third quarter revenue climbed to $1.3B from their nearly 29M users.
iHeart Radio announced 90M registered users and launched beta versions of iHeart All Access in partnership with Napster, as well as iHeartRadio Plus. v
AWAL Selector with VÉRITÉ
"This is a list of music that has kept me going through this year. It pulls from different genres and feels and keeps my mind from closing. Hope you enjoy." - VÉRITÉ
Listen to her mix ft. #kendricklamar, @raurytheindigochild, #boniver, and more: https://awal.lnk.to/selector
AWAL FIRST
For a fresh start to November, this month's AWAL First is an eclectic mix of impressive songs from independent artists.
@beckyhillofficial, @zelladay, @youngsummermusic, R3hab, Michael Brun, Hamish Anderson, and many more.
Listen to discover new sounds: https://AWAL.lnk.to/awalfirst
AWAL & KLS : ACTS @ GLASTONBURY 2016
An exciting year for Kobalt Label Services / AWAL at Glastonbury Festival!
Check out AWAL’s Patrick Ross on the “Midem Wrap”, a recap of the key digital trends at this year’s conference. Patrick is joined by fellow Midem 2016 Label Ambassadors, five key industry executives who contributed to midemblog on hot topics like Blockchain, streaming, playlisting, running your career like a small business and more in the run-up to 2016's edition, share their views on how these and other essential trends developed over the duration of the conference in Cannes. Expect all the key learnings you need to take home with you from Midem 2016!
AWAL First
Check out the latest update to our AWAL First playlist, bringing you new music from Perfume, Freak, POSTAAL, Sam Cartwright Johnson, San Scout, Frenship, Frank Hamilton A.O.S.O.O.N, Humfree Bug Art, and a whole bunch more.
Here it is on Apple Music:
Or if you prefer Spotify we’ve got that too:
AWAL @ midemblog
This year our own Patrick Ross was was selected as a 2016 Midem “Label Ambassador” and contributed a series of blogs running up to the conference.
You can find them all here:
Interview with Patrick Ross: “Success isn’t just about millions of units”
Why it’s not all about the money, money, money…
The key to the Artist-Fan connection? Owning the conversation
AWAL @ The Great Escape
At this year’s Great Escape in Brighton we have a host of artists who use AWAL playing at various venues throughout the festival. Here’s a playlist featuring most of them:
And if you like what you hear, here’s the schedule of when and where to see them:
AWAL & Apple Music
We are very excited to announce the launch of our "Artists Without A Label" curator profile on Apple Music. We've launched with four playlists, but will be growing this steadily.
AWAL First - New music first.
AWAL Originals - Artists who started on AWAL.
AWAL Selector feat Tom Misch - Guest curated by featured AWAL artists.
AWAL Focus On Scandinavia - Territory focused playlists.
This exciting opportunity to showcase great new music and artists, both unsigned and well established, is one we’re very grateful for. Our friends at Apple Music and iTunes have always been supporters of independent artists. In the past we saw “Single of the Week” bring exposure to many artists on our roster, and today we have a direct and open space with which to share some of the great music on AWAL. If you like what you hear, please follow, as we promise to keep the good music coming.
Here is the AWAL First playlist for you to check out, featuring some of our favorite new artists:
AWAL.com
We are very pleased to announce the launch of the all new awal.com. You’ll notice our new logo and branding, along with connecting to the new and improved AWAL Portal. A big thank you to all the artists who make AWAL special, many of whom are featured across the site.
Live on the Rise
In the past three months alone, we’ve seen many established artists use live streaming promotionally. Gwen Stefani live taped a music video as a Grammy’s commercial; Apple live streamed a The 1975 show leading into their record being released; Kanye West debuted The Life Of Pablo as a live stream listening party at Madison Square Garden, etc. Of course, these examples involved planning and dollars spent, but at the end of the day, the ability to connect live is easier than ever.
Social media is in-the-moment by nature, but there’s nothing more (dare I say) “authentic” than live video. Recent competitive platform updates make this connectivity even more accessible. From auto-play to direct streaming to uploading flexibility – many new live stream features have been unveiled over the past year.
Facebook’s recent foray into live streaming is probably the biggest news of all. Mark Zuckerberg is allegedly ‘obsessed’ and making it a top priority. Facebook has been pushing native uploaded videos, with over 8 billion views daily, but their exploration into live streaming began last fall. Today, any followers of a verified page will be notified when it is live - a huge marketing tool. This March Facebook also announced that their algorithm gives preference to live video, which only became accessible to all users last month.
Placebo - Apple TV App
We recently launched the first official artist app for the new Apple TV, featuring 20 years of Placebo. It brings an immersive experience to fans from the comfort of their couch. Specifically designed for the latest version of Apple TV, the app allows fans to experience their favourite music videos from the band alongside live videos and exclusive content from the Placebo archives in their very own home.
Commemorating the 20-year-anniversary of Placebo’s self-titled debut album in 2016, this artist Apple TV app will be the first of its kind, bringing a unique viewing experience to fans, as well as a place for discovery for those who want to experience Placebo's seven studio album, 20 year career for the first time.
Here’s a video of the app on Placebo’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/officialplacebo/videos/10153819035051255/
Tom Misch’s new track ‘Sunshine’ was premiered on Majestic Casual. Have a watch :)
Daphne and Celeste are Back!
Daphne and Celeste are back after 15 years, with their latest single ‘You and I Alone.’ Check out the video below and buy it here.