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News Round-Up – 24th April, 2018

Record-Breaking Album Releases

J. Cole released his new album, KOD, on the 20th of April and almost immediately broke the 24-hour record for most album streams on Apple Music and on Spotify in the US. KOD was streamed 64.5 million times on Apple Music and 36.7 million times on Spotify. J. Cole dethroned Drake and his 2016 album Views, with his recent streaming record.

Cardi B has also broken a record this month with her newest LP Invasion of Privacy. The album was streamed over 100 million times on Apple Music worldwide in its first week after the release.

Both of the records point out to the closing gap between the two most popular streaming platforms, Spotify and Apple Music. Currently, Spotify has about 70 million paying subscribers, while Apple claims to have reached almost 40 million. Apple is also aiming to surpass Spotify’s number of paying subscribers in the US this summer, with Spotify remaining a global leader amongst the streaming platforms.

Tours

Janelle Monáe is going on a tour in support of her upcoming new album, Dirty Computer. Monáe will be performing on 28 different dates across North America, starting on the 11th of June until the 4th of August. Monáe also dropped a new video for her fourth and most recent single ‘I Like That’.  

My Bloody Valentine announced a new tour for the first time in five years. The band is set to perform on the 23rd of June in London at Meltdown Festival, curated by The Cure’s Robert Smith, as well as at Roskilde Festival in Denmark, before moving on to the US and finishing the tour in Japan at Sonicmania on the 17th of August.

Chvrches are expanding their 2018 tour by adding North American dates in support of their upcoming third album, Love Is Dead. The band will start at Lollapalooza in Chicago on the 2nd of August and will close the tour in Boston on the 20th of October. Before travelling across the Atlantic, Chvrches will perform at a number of European and UK festivals, including TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow on the 8th of July and Citadel Festival in London on the 15th.

Music Industry

IFPI Global Music Report 2018 revealed that streaming is now officially the largest revenue source in the music industry. In 2017 streaming revenues grew by 41.1% and are driven by 176 million paying subscribers.

The report also confirmed that the music industry experienced a third consecutive year of growth. Last year, the global recorded music market grew by 8.1% with total revenues being equal to $17.3 billion.

At the same time, download revenues were down by 20.5% and physical revenues dropped by 5.4%.

The full report can be found here: http://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-GLOBAL-MUSIC-REPORT-2018 

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