Itunes, Billboard, and the marginalization of black music and black audiences in America

Yeah, I haven't heard it on the radio at all but I haven't listened to top 40 in quite a while.

here the adult contemporary stations play the sans-kendrick version and all the other stations that play it play the one with kendrick

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6649605/jill-scott-second-no-1-album-billboard-200-chart

that was a bit of a shock.

Compare her streams (1.6 million) with Future at #2 (23 million)

She has a considerable fan base -- adult R&B is for Jill Scott fans.

sure, but zero currently charting singles!

Her audience doesn't care for singles though.

well clearly! it's just an interesting outlier.

for a min there it looked like fifth harmony might get into the top 10. alas...

Purse too heavy.

Fetty Wap The rapper's first three hits rank at Nos. 8, 9 & 11, equaling an honor previously earned only by the Fab Four.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6677761/hot-100-chart-moves-fetty-wap-beatles

The Weeknd retains the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 for a second week based entirely on streaming and "album equivalent units." He sold 77,000 CDs, while the metal band Five Finger Death Punch sold 114,000 CDs (which puts them at the top of the separate Top Album Sales chart, with The Weeknd at #2). But because of "album equivalent units," his total was adjusted to 145,000, while theirs only climbed to 119,000.

Chart News ‏@chartnews 55s55 seconds ago
Billboard On-Demand Songs: #1(=) What Do You Mean?, @justinbieber [9.5 million on-demand US streams]. *2 weeks at #1*

what is an on demand stream

it just means Spotify, Tidal, etc. stuff where you pick the song you're listening to. i think they specify 'on demand' to differentiate from internet radio stuff like Pandora that picks songs for you.

The entire top five on the Billboard 200 are R&B/hip-hop albums -- the first time the region has been dominated as such since the Jan. 13, 2007-dated chart. That week, Omarion’s 21 led the list, followed by Akon’s Konvicted, the Dreamgirls film soundtrack, Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead and Young Jeezy’s The Inspiration.

2 interesting paragraphs from Chris Molanphy's contribution to the Slate critics roundtable on 2015 music

Back to R&B crossover: When we convened for the Music Club two years ago, I marveled that no black artists fronted a No. 1 hit in all of 2013—a historic Hot 100 first. In 2015, we appear to have already flipped that script: Except for a single week when the Hot 100 was commanded by the Biebs’ “What Do You Mean?” and for the past seven weeks by Adele’s “Hello,” every chart-topping hit this year was fronted or prominently supported by an artist of color: Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” (a hit truly powered by Mars), Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again,” Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar’s “Bad Blood” (without Lamar’s injection of B12 into the remix, the song might not have topped the chart), OMI’s “Cheerleader,” and the two big hits by the Weeknd, “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills.”

The thing is, except for that latter Weeknd hit—the creepy “Hills,” not the MJ-esque “Can’t Feel My Face”—none of these songs was a chart-topper at black radio. Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list—a radio-only chart that is now the only real way get a sense of what core R&B and hip-hop fans actually listen to—was topped all year by the likes of Big Sean and Rae Sremmurd and Jeremih and Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj (with the thumping “Truffle Butter,” not one of her pop-aimed tracks). None of these songs was a Top 10 pop hit; Jeremih’s “Planes” missed the pop Top 40 entirely. Whereas “Uptown Funk”—a 14-week Hot 100 chart-topper and a song so indebted to black-music history the Gap Band managed to shake it loose for some change—never came close to topping black radio playlists.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_music_club/features/2015/music_club_2015/in_2015_black_artists_took_back_the_hot_100_pop_charts.html

interesting perspective as molanphy's writing often is. kinda getting mixed evidence on his point about how crossover as we knew it "no longer exists" for black artists tho? like, he points out two songs that charted highly on the hot 100 and one that stalled as evidence for this, but in reality this is because the former two DID cross over while the other's airplay remained limited overwhelmingly to urban radio. songs succeeded or failed at crossing over before 2015 as well obv, and it still does take "weeks or months" for songs to migrate from urban to pop radio. he rightly acknowledges that streaming gives many r&b and rap acts an early boost on the charts now that they wouldn't have a few years ago, but that's across the board for all urban-radio hits, which tend to be heavily streamed compared to, say, adult contemporary ones. it's not like soundscan's accurate measurement of piece-counts allowing "tha crossroads" and such to zoom up the charts before pop radio got on board in the mid-90s meant that crossover stopped existing then either.

(also, pedantry alert, but he links to "all around the world" by lisa stansfield as an example of something migrating from pop radio to r&b, but the charts from the time show that it was actually one of rare examples of songs by white artists crossing in the other direction, from r&b radio to pop.)

this also overlooks the whiteness of singers working in r&b modes whose music gets played on pop radio. puth is the worst example, but there's also adele and meghan trainor...

The only contemporary rap/r&b radio station in Seattle just got demoted to a Tacoma signal so its existing Seattle signal can be turned over to top 40. :(

ugh

It's even branded as a Tacoma station now. A friend of mine('s brother) got the best take:

https://twitter.com/ram0s206/status/689592333965262848

Totally off topic but I stumbled upon this in my travels and figured I'd share.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-rolling-stone-interview-ray-charles-19730118?page=9

So... Panda is the the first rap single by a black artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 without the help of hook sung by another artist since 2009's Crack A Bottle, right? (Not sure if Flo Rida's 2009 #1 counts.)

Billboard's take:

Desiigner's debut hit "Panda" pounces to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated May 7). The Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York rapper halts the nine-week reign of Rihanna's "Work," featuring Drake, and brings an American act to No. 1 on the Hot 100 after a record 41-week streak of leaders by foreign artists.

Rihanna and Drake are just foreigners... USA USA

But Billboard also noted this:

Rap rules again: Desiigner also ends a 41-week streak between rap songs atop the Hot 100, between "See You Again" and "Panda." That's the longest run between No. 1 rap songs (defined as tracks that charted on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs ranking) in more than 14 years: no rap hits led the Hot 100 for 46 straight weeks between Shaggy's "Angel" (March 31, 2001) and Ja Rule's "Always on Time," featuring Ashanti (Feb. 23, 2002).

A rap rookie rules again: Desiigner is the first rapper to crown the Hot 100 with a debut chart entry since Iggy Azalea arrived with "Fancy" (featuring Charli XCX), which ruled for seven weeks beginning June 7, 2014. Before Azalea, duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis bowed with their six-week No. 1 "Thrift Shop" (featuring Wanz), which reached No. 1 on Feb. 2, 2013.

The last male rapper (as a lead artist) to control the Hot 100 on his first try before Desiigner? Wiz Khalifa, with "Black and Yellow" (Feb. 19, 2011). (And, the very first? Vanilla Ice, whose "Ice Ice Baby" topped the Nov. 3, 1990, Hot 100.)

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7341870/desiigner-panda-billboard-hot-100-number-1

Yeah I guess Black & Yellow would be the real precursor - rap song by black artist with no hook assist. Wiz had (near-)peak Stargate going for him though. Thinking Mims would probably be the closer sibling.

i actually just wrote a thing for Billboard about hip hop acts whose first Hot 100 entry went to #1. unsurprisingly, a lot of white rappers!

http://www.billboard.com/photos/7357866/no-1-debut-rap-hits-on-the-hot-100

Also.... Crack A Bottle was Eminem, right?

and 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. But yeah, Eminem - but without Rihanna.

ha ha, good to see you were already on the job, Al!

Sure, sure, I was just momentarily thrown off by the "by a black artist" descriptor.

Great piece Al, but yikes that layout. Who came up with the "If you'd like to read the final half sentence of each paragraph, you're gonna have to click a button" model? Hate seeing good content butchered like that.

lol @ the BoB entry

http://www.people.com/article/linda-perry-sheila-e-prince-billboard-music-awards

(this is a tweaked version of some posts i made on FB in a thread about Madonna's performance last night)

More than anything, the Madonna tribute and its relative paucity reflected just how limited pop is right now. R&B leaning songs that aren't by white interlopers (hi Meghan Trainor) get zero Hot 100 traction from airplay - look at how rarely Beyoncé's recent material gets time on top 40 stations, or the relatively cool reception Rihanna (Rihanna!) is getting. Last night's performance lineup had more former Jonas Brothers than R&B singers or rappers who weren't relegated to cameo roles. It's a really bad situation all around.

It's the exact opposite pop scenario from the one that Prince helped make great 30-odd years ago. But it also brings up the role of the show's producers. Should they reflect what's happening (which is the purpose of this ultra fake awards show) or try to push it forward in a way that isn't informed by back door shenanigans involving manager wheedling? I'd love for the latter to be the case but as media companies get more anxious about their shrinking sliver of the pie they're going to get more conservative. (See also: The new CBS sitcom lineup, the retreads of game shows that were advertised during commercial breaks.)

can we talk for a second about how incredibly pathetic that Bieber performance was

- dude sang UNDER his backing track for most of the time he was on stage, when he decided to sing and not just dance while his track played in the background
- one of the few times he did try to sing, he completely biffed the note he was trying to hit in the chorus of "Sorry" and never went near it again
- dude on record has the dulcet tones of a severe allergy sufferer and sounds a lot worse live, when he tries to sing
- dude seemed entirely uninterested in his dancing, his stage, the other people on stage with him, and life in general

THIS is what we as a society have turned our wallets and ears towards when it comes to musical entertainment; this isn't even an emperor's new clothes situation, more like "wait, there's not even an emperor"

otm

THANKS A LOT, USHER

I'm torn between agreeing 100% with maura's post, and continuing to scoff (as I did with this year's Oscar controversy) at the idea of awards show as cultural barometer. These are trade shows first, and then anything else second.

These are trade shows for industries that drive our mainstream cultural content; it seems silly to disconnect them.

Perhaps, but I think that pointing out what these shows are failing to address in terms of what people are consuming, what issues are informing that consumption, etc tends to highlight just how out of touch these things are. Maura's point about there being more former Jonas bros. on this year's show than there are contemporary R&B singers or rappers (in non-"featuring" roles) proves that; I doubt Joe Jonas will be experiencing much in the way of increased airplay today just because he was part of last night's spectacle. But more to the point, at a time in which music journalists and the artists themselves are so enthusiastic about drawing parallels between the art and the larger culture (whether it is as blatant as the connection between Beyonce's latest and #blacklivesmatter, or some of the more creative analogies that critics like Ann Powers or Carl Wilson regularly draw), the awards shows seem to be making a conscious choice not to be part of these conversations. The current pattern with these shows seems to be that the press spends the next day talking about how awful they were (whether its a dickish host or a terrible musical performance) and then we all go back to talking about the real issues.

how limited pop is right now.

Most US pop radio stations are run by Clear channel/I Heart Radio, right, and they do the song selection (that limits even Beyoncé's and Rihanna's pop airplay) ? Am assuming they are stubbornly insisting they are doing it right, the same way that country music programmer insisted that women country singers could only be the occasional tomato in the male singer country radio salad.

I agree with Maura and wish the show's producers would have done more ...

this is a case, I think, where the media idea of what people are consuming is a bit different than reality. it isn't as if Rihanna and Beyonce's singles were overwhelmingly embraced by pop radio listeners until Clear Channel pulled the plug.

also, the Billboard Music Awards are based on pre-existing chart placements, I'm not sure why the ceremony wouldn't also reflect that

Their "pre-existing chart placement" is in part based on whether or not they initially got airplay. Are you stating that Beyoncé's recent singles got initial pop airplay on Clear Channel stations, but then were determined not to be successful and dropped downward on the charts?

Also, why can't the Billboard tv award show provide at least some attention to its non-pop charts?

Well the country award was televised, as was the R&B award in which three of the nominees were songs by The Weeknd.

Katherine I'm saying that these songs aren't even given a shot. I listen to probably more pop radio than a lot of people on this board, and current songs by black women barely have a presence. (This is in part because the hip-hop/R&B-leaning stations I listen to, which are more closely mirroring their pop brethren, are either heading further into recurrent land or using hip-hop specifically (and not R&B) as accent material instead of the main course. It's country radio's "tomato" issue all over again.)

Also how would you not engage with these shows? Yes, they might be "trade shows," but I haven't seen highlights from the Boston Ski Show aired on one of the major broadcast networks. Big splashy events like these remain the biggest way for music to get out to the mass population, because TV's audience bowls over that of every other medium—I guarantee you Shawn Mendes and Troye Sivan will get huge boosts from their appearances last night.

But more to the point, at a time in which music journalists and the artists themselves are so enthusiastic about drawing parallels between the art and the larger culture (whether it is as blatant as the connection between Beyonce's latest and #blacklivesmatter, or some of the more creative analogies that critics like Ann Powers or Carl Wilson regularly draw), the awards shows seem to be making a conscious choice not to be part of these conversations.

The Billboard Music Awards' trophy-giving half directly engages with the culture — awards are based on chart placement, i.e., how many people are buying and hearing music. (There is one fan-bestowed award; Rihanna won it last night.)

Don't forget CBS Radio and Cumulus when you're talking about radio conglomerates, either. iHeart is the big Kahuna but those two are important, especially in the smaller markets that help boost your more adult-contemporary-leaning tracks to success. (The No. 1 song on the Radio Songs chart right now is "7 Years." Lukas Graham performed last night, the only current "rock" act to do so.)

"Kiss It Better" definitely got continual top 40 radio adds but very much underperformed -- she's already moved on to the next single even at rhythmic. "Sorry" also was up but more for rhythmic (a few top 40 stations have added it, but about 1/10 of what "Can't Stop the Feeling" got even before you even start thinking about airplay.)

my point was more that part of what these shows are reflecting is what pop music audiences as an aggregate actually want to hear. given how much of a factor audience analytics are in radio airplay -- and the rise of streaming services is only intensifying and drilling those down (see: the recent Guardian article) -- and the nature of large commercial enterprises, I highly doubt it's that radio just isn't giving Rihanna, Beyonce, etc. a chance *despite audience demand*. as terrible as Shawn Mendes and Troye Sivan are, they also have a fuckton of a lot of young fans, which speaks louder than the general music/cultural/lifestyle media au jus

(I think we're mostly agreeing, possibly, but I also was unclear in my original post)

There's a history of pop radio and mtv,etc not giving r'n'b and rap artists a fair chance at various points over the years, and while I recognize its a business and the supposed accuracy of audience analytics, I worry that the "pre-existing chart placement" you are comfortable with is not constructed that fairly