As streaming has become the province of hip hop, rap and urban artists, it’s also the only place anyone’s making any money in pop.
Last week, according to Buzz Angle, The Weeknd scored just over $1 million in revenue streaming the six different songs from his EP, “My Dear Melancholy.”
The same songs earned just a total of $50,000 from all their paid downloads. Streaming won, hands down.
The Weeknd was smart. Pop is all about singles these days, not albums. So he made half an album, with six hit singles, no filler. Why bother making the rest of the songs?