Did You Get Us In New Music Friday?
Anyone that has worked in music for more than seven days will be familiar with the above question, whether thats from artists to managers or labels, or labels to distributors, Spotify’s weekly flagship playlist is clearly the place everyone wants to be on a Friday morning.
But is it all that, and does it really mean that much from a ‘business’ point of view? As with everything theres nuances to the situation, but for most musicians and labels in my orbit it’s not going to make that much of a difference, and here’s why.
Firstly, lets have a look at New Music Friday (UK). Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Pink, Keane - all these artists have a release out this week and they’re in the Top 20 or so tracks there. They’ll probably be in the Top 40 of the Official Chart this week too. There’s a bunch of rap & R&B artists in there too, along with some more mainstream Radio 1 friendly dance, the kind of stuff that streams well and regularly fills the charts. But on the whole it’s a pop playlist, filled with pop artists, at least towards the top of it.
Secondly, who’s listening to New Music Friday? On the whole it’s pop fans, and people interested in the charts. I’m going to make a sweeping generalistation here, but it’s not people deeply interested in the outer reaches of music genres, the stuff I (and hopefully you as you’re reading this) enjoy. Most people will stick NMF on and leave it to play whilst they get on with their work, and yeah they might reach some more interesting tracks towards the bottom of the playlist (which runs to 123 tracks, or 6 and a half hours of music this week) the majority will have lost interest long before then.
One criticism of NMF is that it’s a major labels party, closed off to indies, but that’s incorrect - obviously the bigger artists from the majors will pretty much always be represented there, but I know from experience that indie labels and distributors can often get strong NMF placements with the right records. I’ve had fifteen or so tracks in NMF playlists around the world this year alone, and would regularly get things in when in a previous role at an indie distributor. There’s plenty of indie stuff in there this week, some of it in pretty high positions too.
Thirdly (and someone from Spotify may come at me with a load of data to correct me here) but I don’t think NMF particularly drives discovery - it’s such a broad church of genres you would have to be lucky to find a new fan from it, despite it’s massive reach. There’s also the setting in which it’s being used to consider, if you’re listening at home or commuting it’s easy to tab across to Spotify or check your phone, but if someone is playing it in a commercial setting like a shop or bar you’re more likely to Shazam a track that’s got your interest (if you bother to at all) which will direct you into the Apple Music ecosystem. I’m not saying Spotify doesn’t drive discovery, for all it’s faults it’s actually pretty good at putting “new” music in front of listeners, and there’s a few things I’ve discovered myself from it, but I think the general NMF listener won’t be finding many artists they’re not already aware of there. Maybe I’m wrong.
My final issue with NMF is in the name. New Music FRIDAY. Does anyone ever listen to it after Friday? I’ve seen the stats and the drop off is massive. A huge peak on a Friday, about 50% of that number the day after, then just a handful of streams for the rest of the week. If you really want to use playlists as your strategic goal then there’s better ones to get in. Would you rather 20,000 streams on Friday, 10,000 on Saturday, then 1,000 per day Sunday-Thursday, or 6,000 streams a day for a week or even longer?Some of the big playlists don’t refresh for two or three weeks, where with NMF you know you’ve got seven days and that’s it.
What I’m saying is, yes, it’s nice to be in New Music Friday - it’s a good look for the label and artist, and it’s worth celebrating when you get one, but it shouldn’t be the main goal for your release strategy (unless you’re putting out big pop tunes). The beauty of streaming is that it takes away the need to throw all your eggs at week one sales and a track can blow from nowhere at any point in it’s lifetime now which was something almost impossible back in the days of physical media. Don’t be too disheartened if you open your Spotify today and your track isn’t there. A wide spread of relevant playlists is much better for you and your artist, long-term than NMF, although of course it’s always exciting seeing your track in with the big stars.
Did You Get Us In The ‘In Strict Tempo’ Playlist?
Of course the real flagship playlist all the cool artists and labels want to get in is my weekly ‘In Strict Tempo’ playlist, listened to by anyone who’s anyone in the world of music (yep, that’s you, dear readers). Here’s a selection of tracks and releases, new & old that I’ve been enjoying this week.
First up - of course - RIP Shane McGowan. I finally got my Irish passport this year so I can’t let his passing go unnoticed. There’s so much more to McGowan than Fairytale of New York, and he’ll truly go down as one of the worlds greatest songwriters. I’ve kicked off the playlist with a couple of my favourite Pogues tracks.
I’m still living with that Searchlight Moonbeam compilation I wrote about last week. It’s barely left my headphones. I’m starting to think about end of year lists (more on that next week) and this will no doubt be on it. If you’re lucky enough to be getting a Christmas present from me, I’ve got to warn you it will probably be a copy of this.
I finally got the vinyl of the Niecy Blues album this week. It’s been on streaming for a little while now and it’s likely gonna appear in everyones end of year lists but if you’re not aware of it then check it out as it’s really something quite special. I get a Portishead/Grouper kind of vibe from it, but it’s also so much more than that.
Low Company was always my favourite record shop, and I’m gonna write some kind of longer tribute to it at some point, as I miss it almost every day (All Night Flight and World of Echo have done a great job in replacing it, along with Boomkat, the OG obviously). They had a label for a bit too, out of the ashes of Blackest Ever Black but that’s ended now with this Static Cleaner Lost Reward (aka former BEB/F Ingers man Tarquin Manek). Dunno quite how to describe this one, dubbed out lo-fi ‘pop’ I suppose? Something like that. Anyway, give it a listen, and use it as a jumping off point into that world.
I got my Spotify Wrapped stats this week - I was surprised to see my #1 artist this year was REM - not because I don’t like them (I do, although in true music nause style “I prefer their earlier stuff”) - but because I didn’t think I’d listened to them that much. I got a fever from swimming in the river earlier in the summer, around the time I watched Series 2 of ‘The Bear’ so that’s probably the reason for that. Other artists I listened to a lot this year: New Order, The Cure, Two Lone Swordsmen, LCD Soundsystem. Figures.
My top song of this year? Same as it was in 2020 funnily enough. Annie Hogan and Karl ‘Regis’ O’Connor’s cover of Lou Reed’s Temporary Thing. Honestly, this track got me through the various lockdowns back in 2020, and this has been a tough year too so I fell back into it’s comforting arms. I can’t recommend this song enough, It’s incredible, Karl has re-written the lyrics and they fit much better. Probably not what you was expecting from Regis, but like I said, one of my favourite songs of all time for sure. Also I found out this week that Regis took his name from former West Brom player Cyrille Regis… how did I only just realise that?
Anyway, enjoy this weeks tunes, thanks for reading, and please feel free to share the newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it.