Tag Archives: playlists

Music, My Stories

Spotify Ramblings from 2022

I listened to 33,090 minutes of music on Spotify last year. It equates to 90 minutes a day and it doesn’t include any vinyl or CDs played on my stereo system.

This involves listening to 1214 different artists.

I say it ever year.

Once upon a time the maximum records I would have purchased in a year was between 20 to 30 different artists, when I had my own money and before that when my parents were funding me, it was 8 to 12 different artists and most of em came in November for my birthday and December for Christmas.

And those artists would hold my attention for a lot longer because that was all I had to listen to.

But when you have the entire history of recorded music at your fingertips (almost), it’s pretty easy to flick between so many different artists.

And to be creative with playlists (aka old mixtapes) from so many different artists.

Like an old school playlists incorporating 80s and 90s songs (above) or a more current 2010s and above playlist (below).

Or you can combine the entire history of an artist into a playlist. Like Glen Hughes. 27 hours worth of music. There are a few more releases to add.

The same with Dio, but this time I tried to sequence the playlist like an album.

Then again Dio’s career is so wide, I was able to sequence a lot of different albums.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Henrik’s Spotify List

Here is the playlist.

Henrik is a regular reader and commenter of this blog and a week ago he shared his Top 100 Spotify list for 2018.

Well, like all things that deal with music, I had to give it a listen, especially when I saw his number one was from a band I’ve never heard of. It’s always cool to see similar musical tastes/songs in other people’s playlists and it’s even cooler to be introduced to bands I have never heard before.

So after listening to the playlist, here are my selections of Henrik’s Top 100 Spotify List.

John Carpenter Powder Ballad
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock N Roll Machine”.

It’s the first time I’ve heard the song and the band. And its good. Don’t know how the band name would go down in the U.S, but hey from reading their Wikipedia page it looks like they like to push the political correctness debates.

For me, I’m a fan and the last minute of the song, makes me want to press repeat.

Hot For Nietzsche
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock and Roll Machine”

I dig all the references to “The Who” and so many other bands I like.

No Surrender
Judas Priest
From the Firepower album.

This was on my list as well.

In The Heat Of The Night
Make The Move
U.D.O
From the Steelfactory album.

U.D.O is hit and miss for me, but these songs have riffs and grooves too good to refuse. Especially, “Make The Move” which has a riff and vocal feel, very similar to a certain Beatsie Boys song called “Fight For Your Right To Party”.

Mess You Made
Only Human
Vega
From the Only Human album.

I’m interested, clicked on follow and we will see what the band does next.

Black Smoke Rising
Safari Song
Greta Van Fleet
From the “From The Fires” album.

Their path is like Led Zep. Coming out around 1968/2018 with a folk hard rock sound and tweaking it as they move into the 1970’s/2020’s.

Walk In The Shadows
Queensryche
From the “Rage For Order” album.

The song that made sense on this album on the first listen. The rest of the album took some time to digest, but this one was easy.

Dance Macabre
Ghost
From the “Prequelle” album.

It’s also in my 100.

Perfect Storm
Breathless
Volster
From the “Perfect Storm” album.

The first time i heard this band. And I clicked save on the songs and I also follow the band.

Distance
My Allied Ocean
Evergrey
From the “Storm Within” album.

These appeared on my list for 2017, and “Distance” also appeared in 2018.

A new album will drop in 2019, so expect to see Evergrey in my list next year.

This Time
Sometimes The World Aint Enough
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Sometimes The World Aint Enough” album.

These are also on my list.

Life On Death Road
Jorn
from the “Life On Death Road” album.

The riff is brilliant, and those outro leads make me press repeat.

Suite Sister Mary
Queensryche
From the “Operation Mindcrime” album.

I haven’t heard this in a long time.

Those voices/choirs remind me of the “Omen” movies. So powerful and it takes the song into the stratosphere.

Bark At The Moon
Ozzy Osbourne
From the “Bark At The Moon”

Here is the classic riff that Ozzy wrote with one finger on a piano while Jake E.Lee watched.

And that outro lead. I guess Ozzy’s finger moved really fast to write it and then show Jake E. Lee.

This is the bullshit of music copyright and how people with money and status can fuck up the real writers, in this case Bob Daisley and Jake E. Lee.

Quicksand Jesus
Skid Row
From the “Slave To The Grind” album.

One of the best Skid Row songs, especially when Sebastian Bach takes it to another level with his Bridge and Outro vocals. This is also on my lists of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Fuel The Fire
One More Round
Bullet
From the album “Dust To Gold”.

I swear i thought i was listening to Keel singing. And to be honest, it’s the vocals that stop me from getting into it.

Fool On Fire
One Million Miles
Babylon A.D
From the album “Revelation Highway”.

“Fool On Fire” is not my favaourite as I prefered other songs over this one. But still cool to see Babylon A.D on another listeners list.

On the other hand, “One Million Miles” is up there as a sleeper classic.

The Art Of Loss
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

Any song that starts off with sweep picking, alternate picking scalar runs and a wicked beat/riff under it, is up there in my book.

Hope Dies Last
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

You need to be in the mood to sink your teeth into a 10 minute song. This one is also a favourite of mine, because it feels like a Fates Warning song.

And that section from about the 5.50 minute mark to the 6.10 minute mark is finger breaking stuff.

Master Of The Universe
Man Behind The Gun
Cool Runnin’
Palace

Never heard of the band before, however there sound is up there with the melodic rock i dig. I’m interested, what comes next is up to the band.

Show Dont Tell
Rush
From the album “Presto”.

No Rush made it to my list this year, but man, there was a big Rush period between 94 and 2004 for me.

I remember this song well, sitting down to learn the riffs, the feel and the groove.

And those open chord voicings from Alex Lifeson are perfect. A true master at simplicity and yet it sounds complicated.

Breathe With Me
In The Arms Of A Devil
Dynazty
From the album “Firesign”.

Yep, these ones are on my list as well. And those guitar solos, its guitar hero stuff. Sweep picking, string skipping, legato lines, bends, tapping, alternate picking. It’s got everything.

Break Down The Wall
Stone Fury

Ahh yes, Lenny Wolf’s German band before his U.S band, Kingdom Come conquered the world with their Led Zep influences and then when interviewers questioned them, they told everyone they have never heard of Led Zep. It’s okay to say you are influenced by others, it’s how music works.

This song is perfect melodic rock and you can more or less hear the embryo of Kingdom Come’s melodic side right here. I actually have it in a Kingdom Come playlist and it’s not out of place.

For The Love Of God
Bellevue Suite

Another new band to sink my teeth into.

Let It Go
Def Leppard
From the “High N Dry” album.

When you hear Def Leppard’s earlier songs, you get to hear the metal and rock ethos they started out with and this rock and metal spirit would sustain them.

This song rocks as hard as any song that came out during this period, but the embryo of those multi-layered vocals that took “Hysteria” to millions in sales are here.

Face It
Grand Design
From the album “Viva La Paradise”

Man, i really dig the music and the melodies, but the tone of the helium vocals is too much.

Take Hold Of The Flame
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

You can hear the embryo of the ‘Operation Mindcrime” album in this song.

The Warning
En Force
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

Two classic metal songs.

Please give that verse riff in “En Force” a real listen and try to pick out which song it’s borrowing from as it always eludes me. Is it a Thin Lizzy song?

Star Of Rio
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Amber Galactic” album.

Yep, this song is on my playlist for 2018 and it was in there for 2017. It’s a classic in my book.

Downtown
In And Out Of Trouble
H.E.A.T
From the “Live In London” album.

This band delivers a sound and style i like, and they are a tight band on this live album. Provided that the live album didnt fix things up back in the studio.

Masque Of The Red Death
Crimson Glory
From the “Transcendence” album

This is a blast from the past. I have this on CD, but i haven’t listened to Crimson Glory on Spotify at all.

One Night In The City – Live at Pinkpop Festival
Dio
From the album “The Last In Line” Deluxe Edition

Hearing Dio live, you get a sense of what a super tight band he had, especially Vinny Appice.

Man, the guy doesnt miss a beat at all.

King Of Errors
Evergrey
From the “Hymns For The Broken” album.

This song crushes.

The verse riff is simple and effective and the Queensryche “Operation Mindcrime” sounding Chorus riff is perfect.

What about that lead break?

Killer
Crazy Lixx
From the album “Ruff Justice”

This one is also saved on my playlists as it reminds me of Yngwie Malmsteen.

Marathon – Live In Birmingham England/1988
Rush
From the “A Show Of Hands” album.

Hearing Rush in a live setting, you get a feel for how good they really are and how tight they are as a live band. Especially for a three piece.

A perfect example of paying your dues and honing your chops for years before you make it.

Eyes You Dare Not Meet In Dreams
Redemption
From the album “Long Night’s Journey Into Day”.

Yep, this one is also in my list.

Havana
Red Dragon Cartel
From the album “Patina”.

Jake E Lee lays down a mean blues boogie shuffle in typical Jake fashion, but the vocal line melodies do not connect at all with me.

Bodom Beach Terror
Triple Corpse Hammerblow
Children Of Bodom
From the album “Hate Crew Deathroll”

Musically this band is brilliant and Alexi Laiho (i am spelling from memory here, so maybe there is a mistake) is one unbelievable guitarist. When you hear his style, it’s so heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads, which is perfect to my ears. Vocally it’s not my thing, but musically i really enjoy it.

Check out the solo in “Triple Corpse Hammerblow” and it’s “Over The Mountain” influence.

I even wanted to cover their songs in bands i was in and have the vocal melodies sung instead of growled.

Lock And Key
Rush
From the album “Hold Your Fire”.

Man i havent heard this song for a long time. I feel a Rush binge coming up for the Xmas holidays.

Tightrope
Vandenberg’s MoonKings
From the MK-II album.

Adrian Vandenberg sure knows how to write a good four minute song. This came across my playlists as well, but with so many releases coming through, it sort of got dropped off.

Reign Of Fire
Armored Saint
From the “Symbol Of Salvation” album.

This song is also on my lists. That opening riff is enough to break your desk and start swinging air punches.

Nobody’s Hero
Rush
From the album “Counterparts”

Again, it’s been a long time since we’ve shared a listening experience, so welcome back “Counterparts”.

Life In Still Water
Fates Warning
From the album “Parallels”.

It’s also been a long time since i’ve listened to the “Parallels” album, so it was cool to see this song on a playlist.

Thanks for the playlist Henrik and others should also check it out.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Playlists And Streaming

Spotify is growing. The pop artists or the cross-over artists from other genres into the pop world are getting into the 100 plus millions/billions listens. And the high counts are due to two things;

  • Spotify Playlists.
  • Listeners Playlists

If a song is added to the most followed playlists, then the listens go up.

There is a “Rock In The 2000’s” playlist created by Spotify and if you check the songs on it and then check the streams the songs have on the artist account, you will see those songs on the playlist dwarf the rest of the catalogue. For example, “Chop Suey” from System Of A Down is on the Spotify playlist and the listens of Chop Suey is exponentially higher than the remainder of SOAD’s catalogue.

“Drake doesn’t lock himself into an album cycle. When Drake wants to put out music and he feels like it’s ready, Drake puts out music. So it’s not the typical, “I’m gonna put out two singles, then launch my album, then go on tour, then wait two years and go back in the studio and release this music.” I think he really has captured that rhythm of how fans want to consume music.”
Spotify’s Troy Carter on Drake’s Streaming Success

Drake is as metal and rock as the soap in the bathroom is metal, however the lesson should be applied to all. New music is an invitation into the world of the artist. It’s not the only thing. Capture the moment and release when the song is ready, not many months later when the album is ready.

Platinum selling artist Mark Tremonti has released three albums in 2 years, and while Tremonti and Alter Bridge are on tour, he is spending his free time giving guitar lessons/doing guitar clinics as an additional income stream.

It is easier to find and less costly to release new music, leading to unpredictable successes from artists who might not have been discovered or produced an album in an earlier era.
Michael Luca and Craig McFadden – Harvard Business Review

And that’s the cold hard truth about music in 2016. Artists who normally wouldn’t be signed can suddenly record and release music into the world. The supply of new music over the last 10 years is way higher than the demand for new music. Hell, I listened to 950 plus unique artists on Spotify this year. I grew up in the 80’s with no more than 50 or so unique artists. Spotify has over 20 million songs that haven’t been listened to yet.

Sure, some of the Spotify playlists might be a PR exercise for the labels, in the end, it still comes down to the user, who still likes to have some a filter to push new music on them. But then the record labels would like to mislead people about how much it costs them to break an artist to the mainstream.

The truth is the labels don’t break artists. They can spend monies on the artist, the promotions and put them out into the market place, however it is the people who decide if the artist will break on through. And what we are seeing more are artists making it on the back of streaming and no radio support.

But times have changed: in a landscape dominated by services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon, it is possible to have a hit without the press and radio (or much of the public) even noticing you. Kiiara, hardly a household name, is currently enjoying a global hit with Gold, off the back of 312m streams on Spotify alone. (Other services don’t make their numbers public.) You could look at British artist James TW, whose song When You Love Someone has 35m streams. Then there’s Australian teen Joel Adams, whose one and only song Please Don’t Go has chalked up 320m streams on Spotify.
Peter Robinson – Guardian Writer

Yeah, I got no idea who the above artists are and none of them are really rock or metal, but the possibilities are there for unknown metal and rock bands to become streaming behemoths without the support of record labels and radio stations. However, having a high streaming listen count doesn’t automatically correlate to concert ticket sales or sales of recorded music, much in the same way Facebook likes/followers never equal sales. The artist will need to work even harder to convert those listeners into real fans, because a lot of streaming users are casual fans who like to check songs out.

 

In the back-end of Spotify, for instance, fans are split into three categories: streakers (who have listened to the artist every day in the last week), loyalists (who have listened to them more than to any other over the past 20 days), and regulars (who listened to the artist on the majority of the days in the month
Peter Robinson – Guardian Writer

Spotify is building the data banks instead of the labels. Apple already has the databank. The labels have done nothing in this regard. So as an artist, who do you want to partner with?

And finally, there are the playlists. The more playlists the songs are added to, the more exposure the songs will get and this is where the old gatekeeper model comes into play. How does a rock or metal band get their songs onto a Spotify created playlist that has over a million followers?

STREAMING – changing the music business again
STREAMING – artists who made it huge without radio support
STREAMING – Swedish artists benefiting from streaming 
RECORD LABELS – breaking an artist 
SONGWRITER WHO SOLD HIS SONGS FOR A FEE AND IS UNKNOWN

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