Switched on Pop12 Mar 2019

How Streaming Changed the Sound of Pop

Streaming hasn't just changed the way we listen to music, it's changed the way that pop music sounds. After years of losses due to the death of the CD and the rise of file sharing, the music industry has finally found a profitable business in streaming services. Streaming has overtaken all other music sales. Digital music platforms are the new Virgin megastore. But these services are more than just a distribution mechanism, they have created a whole new music economy. Album sales have been replaced by "album equivalent units," a business fiction that equates 1,500 streams to one physical sale. Artists are now effectively paid by the song. With ad-supported and subscription based business models, these platforms have upended incentives so significantly that it can be heard in the songwriting. Songs are getting shorter, albums are getting longer, and there is an entirely new section of the song that draws from the classical past: the "pop overture." In this episode, Nate and Charlie are joined by Aisha Hassan and Dan Kopf to unpack the sound of pop in the streaming era. Be sure to check out their article on Quartz: "The Reason Why Your Favorite Pop Songs Are Getting Shorter." Songs FeaturedLil Pump - I Love ItBenny Blanco - Eastside ft. Khalid & HalseyKodak Black - Calling My SpiritPost Malone - Better NowLeonard Bernstein - West Side Story OvertureDua Lipa - One KissDrake - God’s PlanPost Malone - I Fall ApartAriana Grande - NasaTommy Dorsey - All The Things You Are Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Episoder(552)

The power of singing together (ft. Tiny Habits)

Throughout pop history, groups from The Ink Spots to the Beach Boys to Fleetwood Mac all forged their sound in the alchemy of vocal harmonies, harnessing the magic that happens when different voices j...

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Questionably Country

For the first time in history, five country songs were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Ella Langley, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Stella Lefty all have songs that range from two-stepping hits ...

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Phoebe Bridgers opens her Moleskine

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25 Aug 36min

We have Confessions to make...

Madonna has returned this summer with Confessions II: an album full of huge hooks, pounding bass, and sincere emotion. It’s the queen of pop's first record in seven years, and serves as a sequel to he...

18 Aug 39min

A piano lesson that will change how you listen (ft. Lang Lang)

For many people – including Charlie and Nate – studying classical piano as a child always felt like a chore. Now, as adults, there’s a newfound appreciation for classical music, but the art form isn’t...

11 Aug 36min

IV. Take It to the Bridge (ft. Tayla Parx)

Bridges open up the world of a song: they're a breath of fresh air and a point of contrast, typically delivered right before the final chorus. But sometimes they accomplish even more, changing the who...

4 Aug 42min

III. Preaching to the Chorus (ft. Cypress Hill and Trevor Horn)

The chorus was once the part of the song that brought us together, the place we gathered to sing. Now it's the most engineered thirty seconds in music. Legendary producer Trevor Horn and hip-hop icon ...

28 Jul 50min

II. Justice for the verse (ft. Audrey Hobert)

Everybody sings the chorus, but superfans quote the verse. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate trace the verse from Shakespeare through opera to TikTok, and songwriter Audrey Hobert s...

21 Jul 33min