Dr. Dre's 'Compton' album hits 25M streams on Apple Music in first week
Hip-hop icon Dr. Dre's much-awaited album "Compton: A Soundtrack" was streamed 25 million times during its first week of availability, driving nearly half a million paid downloads on iTunes over the same period.
Dre's record was released on Aug. 7 as a two-week Apple Music exclusive and is loosely tied to Straight Outta Compton, a movie chronicling the rise of legendary hip-hop group N.W.A. Apple executives revealed "Compton's" first week numbers to The New York Times in a statement on Sunday.
"We're beginning to show what we can do in terms of communicating music to a worldwide audience and helping artists at the same time," said Jimmy Iovine. Cofounders of Beats Music, Dre and Iovine were brought into the Apple family after their company was purchased for $3 billion last year.
The performance, while solid, was not overwhelming and paled in comparison to recent non-exclusive streaming releases also offered by competing services like Spotify. For example, Drake's "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" notched 48 million streams in one week when it dropped in February, while Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" garnered almost 39 million, the report said. "Compton" is expected to sit in the No. 2 spot when Billboard's charts are published on Monday.
As an interesting side note, The Times believes Dre not only benefitted of Apple's vast marketing power, but also the company's penchant for secrecy, as "Compton" didn't leak online prior to official release. Dre was known to be working on a follow up to his 1999 album "2001," but specifics were closely guarded. In a recent episode of his Beats 1 show The Pharmacy, which also served as a platform for "Compton's" announcement, Dre revealed a previous version of the album was completely scrapped.
Dre's record was released on Aug. 7 as a two-week Apple Music exclusive and is loosely tied to Straight Outta Compton, a movie chronicling the rise of legendary hip-hop group N.W.A. Apple executives revealed "Compton's" first week numbers to The New York Times in a statement on Sunday.
"We're beginning to show what we can do in terms of communicating music to a worldwide audience and helping artists at the same time," said Jimmy Iovine. Cofounders of Beats Music, Dre and Iovine were brought into the Apple family after their company was purchased for $3 billion last year.
The performance, while solid, was not overwhelming and paled in comparison to recent non-exclusive streaming releases also offered by competing services like Spotify. For example, Drake's "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" notched 48 million streams in one week when it dropped in February, while Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" garnered almost 39 million, the report said. "Compton" is expected to sit in the No. 2 spot when Billboard's charts are published on Monday.
As an interesting side note, The Times believes Dre not only benefitted of Apple's vast marketing power, but also the company's penchant for secrecy, as "Compton" didn't leak online prior to official release. Dre was known to be working on a follow up to his 1999 album "2001," but specifics were closely guarded. In a recent episode of his Beats 1 show The Pharmacy, which also served as a platform for "Compton's" announcement, Dre revealed a previous version of the album was completely scrapped.
Comments
$0.002 per stream * 25,000,000 albums * 12(?) songs per album = $600,000 for the content owner? Is that good or bad?
Well, if I earned $600,000 in a week, I'd think that would be good. I guess it's all relative. And I suppose you also have to account for the fact that he earns that all up front and he's not going to earn $600,000 every single week (most likely, anyway).
I'm just curious if my assumed numbers are accurate and if that's good for its debut week.
500.000 x $12? x 0,7? = $8 571 428
Combined, this potentially shows that much more people are listening to his music than prior to streaming. Which is a nice thing. But it also shows that buying is a much more powerful short term business model. It also shows that streaming is a business model that works for big time artists.
I'd say it's a great launch. I could live my whole life from this amount of money ;-) Anyone who says the numbers are disappointing has lost contact with life.
Lest we forget Sir Dre PhD brutally assaulted a female TV show host. [Dre] "picked her up" and "began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway" as his bodyguard held off the crowd. After Dre tried and failed to throw her down the stairs, he began kicking her in the ribs before chasing her into the women's bathroom and donkey punching her a few times for good measure.
So much for Apple's pro- woman stance!
But...but...but...he's a rap legend. /s
You mean this guy?
Oh, you said 'rap legend'. My bad.
Buy seriously, he is a legend in rap music and I do wonder about Tim Cook hiring Dre (not just buying Beats) with that story in Dre's history. I don't know the specifics so I can't gauge whether it's true or not but it seems like it's true enough.
Not • 12
So 50 grand.
:???: You're saying an album is one song on a streaming service?
Don't you think that people who like this kind of music are more likely to sign up with AM when they hear that one of their idols is playing a major role in the service?
Does it? Why is streaming better for an artist if he earns less money than trough sales?
It would be interesting to see how the facials would look like without streaming. Those who bought only because they discovered the album through streaming. Those who didn't buy because they are happy with streaming. Etc
Overall, the switch to the streaming paradigm to me is devaluation the music from an asset to keep to a piece of one-time use, like fast food. Or, maybe this is the actual value of contemporary music after all....
Does it? Why is streaming better for an artist if he earns less money than trough sales?
It would be interesting to see how the facials would look like without streaming. Those who bought only because they discovered the album through streaming. Those who didn't buy because they are happy with streaming. Etc
Overall, the switch to the streaming paradigm to me is devaluation the music from an asset to keep to a piece of one-time use, like fast food. Or, maybe this is the actual value of contemporary music after all....
I think for small time artists streaming is always a bad short term money making solution. And perhaps long term too. There simply isn't enough volume to get any money that you can live from. For Dre, a few years from now, he might have earned more money.. Chances are that your music will be played by a much wider audience, which is good in itself, because if you've got many fans and listeners, it's a much better starting point than if you have fewer fans. Easier to book gigs, better market for merchandise etc. It'll take about 300-400 streams of a whole album to reach the full album price. If you've got fans that will play your album as a whole during years to come, there's the potential that you will at some point start earning more money than if they'd bought it.. over time.. if it's a good album.. and if you've got loyal fans. It's a different model.. and it's stinks at first.. but there is potential down the road.
Another problem today is that there's soooo much music that can enrichen your life. You just can't buy it all. There's too much. But with streaming, you can suddenly enrichen your life with a lot of music, which I'd say is good in itself. I would NEVER have bought Dre's new album. I'm not a fan, and I'm not interested enough to buy the album. But with Apple Music I listened to the whole album once. And it was great. I might listen to it a few times, and I'll keep Dre in my mind as "Hey, that Dre guy, he's seriously good in what he does." and I'll recommend his album to people. This wouldn't have happened with the old model. It's different.
Is it like fast food? Well.. I think streaming in itself is not like fast food, but the way kids listen to music today is truly like fast food. They're after the thrill of a catchy tune. They listen to it a hundred times, then move on to a new commercially successful tune. The generations that grow up today would never accept the buy to own model anyway. They've got a more "all-you-can-eat" mindset. It's different times...
Dr. Dre's new CD:
I read this in a recent article:
"In a track featuring Eminem called Medicine Man, the rapper is heard saying: “Ain’t no one safe from, non-believers there ain’t none/I even make the bitches I rape cum”."
> Is this true?
I don't know, but n the same song he says "n****s be 44 acting half their ages"
Good points.
From my past and limited experience in the music business what I took away was that the emphasis in "music business" lies on "business". Not music. Not artist. Not art. So the paradigm change we observe is catered by the management as well.
I do agree that it gives new artist a potentially broader audience and chance to be discovered. But just as with self-publishing books or putting yourself on a YouTube channel it would appear that it is in the rarest cases quality that prevails. Apart from the fact that it is increasingly difficult to get discovered due to the broader range of ifferings. Here is where the citation could shine.
If that then ultimately provides a sufficient revenue stream remains to be seen.
Back then I used often booster to discover artists and when I liked it is go and buy the album most of the times. Some stuff you just couldn't buy. Like rare remixes. Or bootlegs. Jesus, I remember when I found a rare vinyl edition on a flea market what crazy prices I was willing to pay back then. Objectively, today's model might be more realistic as ultimately I sold off all my collection when I really like at the play count vs the space it took up. And strictly speaking the song s I buy on iTMS are not "mine". All I purchased is a license to store this somewhere and play it under certain conditions. So there is the aspect of getting used to changes.
However, I can't put my finger o. It, but somehow the purchase of a vinyl record (or CD) with a well made booklet/sleeve for me is a different experience w.r.t perceived value than streaming something. No gains without losses...?
Well, I've just found the lyrics to Medicine Man ... and it's true ... read and weep:
Doc, doc, you gotta give us some good news
(Yeah, about that...)
[Intro: Candice Pillay]
Don't let me find out, the bitch in you
Don't let me find out, the snitch in you
[Hook: Candice Pillay]
Fame and fortune, it's not your forte
**** the world now, I'm done with foreplay
Doctor's orders: go **** yourself
Take two of these in the morning, overdose and kill yourself
Doctor's orders...
[Verse 1: Dr. Dre]
Listen, this is my evaluation
This shit over saturated, y'all can get evacuated
Kids sipping Actavis and they ain't even activated
Married to the internet, stuck in place, salivating
Ain't nobody graduating
Don't nobody love this shit the way I love it
That's why I gotta hate it
Everybody out for fame, that ain't no exaggeration
Damn I'm getting aggravated, ****, I'm getting agitated
Teachers so underpaid in these fucking schools
The police got our name in all they databases
Girls be thirteen acting twenty-two
Niggas be forty-four acting half they ages
Somebody tell me, what the **** is going on?
These niggas in tight shit, I'm in the fucking Matrix
It's looking like a sign of the revelation
'Bout time of the return of the fuckin' greatest
I got all these patients man
How come they ain't patient with me?
They just think I want the money, why?
When I can't take it with me
Y'all don't do it for the love, for the love not
They gon' find out who you are, just admit 'fore you get admitted
[Bridge: Anderson .Paak]
Say, what you living about, **** you gon' tell me
Do you remember how you started out though
You looking lost now (You want a pass, oh damn)
Fake it 'til you make it, take your little paper book
When you look in the mirror your credibility’s gone now
I'd rather be hated on for who I am
Than to be loved for who I'm not, that's word to Doc
[Hook: Candice Pillay]
Fame and fortune, it's not your forte
**** the world now, I'm done with foreplay
Doctor's orders: go **** yourself
Take two of these in the morning, overdose and kill yourself
[Verse 2: Eminem (Candice Pillay)]
In the beginning a few of the people who had a problem
I was this good, scoffed, I just shook off
Probably reminded you of the first time you saw Tiger Woods golf
Never thought about how much my race and nationality meant
But based on how I ascended, see how plain it was now, they want me to jet
No one really gave a **** about my descent, 'till I took off
Mistook me because I look soft
But I stood tall, I just follow the (Doctor's orders)
So I rose and grew balls, told these hoes to screw off
Decided opposing you is what I'm ‘posed to do alls
I did was say what I'm feeling when the vocal booth calls
And had you on pins and needles when I spoke to you all
You felt my pain, it's almost like I poked voodoo dolls
And I hope my spirit haunts the studios when I'm gone
My picture jumps off a poster and just floats through the halls
And fucking goes through the walls like the ghost of Lou Rawls
Karma's headed for Armageddon, the trauma center, I'm going in
Already got an arm and head in, whoever said words are just words
Ain't heard me word them, I give a ****
Even if my image ends up taking a personal hit
Whoever I hurt or whatever bridges I burned in this bitch
And whatever bitches feel like they didn't deserve what they get
And whatever consequences come with every verse, it's worth it
So Doc turn the beat on, whose turn is it to get murdered on it?
And here's to all the years I spent toeing a line to overtime
As sure as a mole is blind, in my mind
I'm still underground as a groundhog and I'mma go for mine
Like a whole furrow just tryna dig up some gold and diamonds and coal to find
No signs of slowing and these lines full of nines
I just load up the most rhymes and open fire with a closed mind
All I needed was someone to co-sign, been a (Doctor's)
Assault rifle with the sniper scope for this whole time
Day one, set with the blasters, give me the orders, I spray (Uh)
Pain in the ass and get shot in the ass with a paint gun
Ain't no one safe from, non-believers there ain't none
I even make the bitches I rape cum
I'm waiting on someone to say something
Dre make the bass pump and let the tape run for old time's sake
I spit it straight through, this is take one
The moment you're waiting for has come but the...
[Hook: Candice Pillay]
Fame and fortune, it's not your forte
**** the world now, I'm done with foreplay
Doctor's orders: go **** yourself
Take two of these in the morning, overdose and kill yourself
[Outro: Candice Pillay]
Doctor's orders...
Doctor's orders...
------------------
I haven't taken the time to analyse this...er...work of art. It seems pretty convoluted and lacking clarity. But looking all around the surrounding lines, it seems a remarkably misogynistic line - totally gratuitous. And what on earth is the problem with 'non-believers? Non-believers in what?