How Paul McCartney Landed First No. 1 Album in 36 Years
*By Conor White*
Paul McCartney is celebrating his first number-one album in nearly four decades.
"Egypt Station," released on September 7, sold 153,000 copies during its first week, including an impressive 147,000 in physical sales. And it's not the 76-year-old former Beatle's core Baby-Boomer fan base behind his latest success ー it's streamers.
Daily Dot managing editor Austin Powell says those numbers are certainly the ones to watch.
"'FourFiveSeconds,' \[McCartney's\] track with Kanye and Rihanna ー that's been streamed nearly 500 million times on Spotify," Powell said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar.
"So he has this other audience that he can tap into and that Spotify can push his music towards as well."
Powell noted that with physical album sales dropping from over half a billion in 2007 to just 169 million last year, artists have sought help from the very platforms that damaged their sales in the first place ー McCartney, for instance, recorded a live performance specifically for Spotify.
To date, "Egypt Station" has been streamed over 6 million times across all platforms, and that number will only continue to grow.
"I'm sure he got a nice push from Spotify itself ーgiving those notifications, letting people know the new album was available to stream," Powell said.
Spotify's power and influence continue to spread, as does that of its rival, Apple Music. The two services now account for more than 80 percent of paid streaming subscribers in the United States, leaving their competitors to fight for meager scraps.
And those smaller players ー including industry pioneer Pandora ー don't have great odds, according to Powell.
"I think there are only two that stand a fighting chance, and that's Google via YouTube, and that's Amazon," he said.
"They can bundle streaming into an existing service," he said.
For full interview [click here] (https://cheddar.com/videos/streaming-nation).
David Bowie's entire catalog of songs has officially been sold to Warner Music Group by his estate for an estimated $250 million. This means the group now has the full rights to almost all of David Bowie's recordings. But Bowie, just the latest music mega deal. Just last month, Bruce Springsteen sold his entire catalog to Sony Music Entertainment at what in fact maybe be the biggest transaction ever for a single artist's body of work. In addition, John Legend also cashed in by selling rights to his songs from 2004 to early last year. Culture Correspondent at NPR, Anastasia Tsioulcas, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Treasury officials say that filing taxes this year could be frustrating due to staffing shortages at the IRS and paperwork backlog. Cheddar News speaks with Brent Weiss, certified financial planner and co-founder of Facet Wealth, on how to best file your returns in 2022.
As the need for COVID-19 testing increases, so does the price of the tests themselves. An agreement with The White House and several major companies to sell the tests at a lower cost has now expired, sending prices up as retailers struggle to keep kits on shelves. Dr. Thomas McGinn, executive VP of physician enterprise at Common Spirit Health, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
With no end in sight to supply chain snarls, some companies are reconsidering the way they manufacture goods. Harry Moser, founder and president of Reshoring Initiative and Jennifer Smith, logistics and supply chain reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss some of the ways companies are trying to solve their supply chain problems in the long term.
Stocks closed higher Tuesday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq rising for a second straight day as tech stocks rebound. Investors also felt some relief after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell today said the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates 'more over time' if inflation continues to run hot. Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's market close, whether and how markets are pricing in Fed activity, and more.
Bitcoin dipped below $40,000 this week amid a broader slump to begin the year. Some speculate that as cryptocurrencies correlate closer to traditional assets that factors like the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy will weigh on digital coins. Jalak Jobanputra, managing partner at Future Perfect Ventures, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss why crypto markets are feeling pressure from the Fed's potential 2022 rate hikes, broader crypto market predictions, and more.
A.I. startup Fractal has raised $360 million in funding, officially entering the unicorn club. Pranay Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder of Fractal, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the company plans to do with the fresh capital.
Electric vehicles are quickly becoming an accessible way for consumers to slash emissions as legacy automakers begin to electrify their fleets and world leaders including President Joe Biden push for broad EV adoption. But consumers have concerns about EV range, the availability of charging stations, and more. What if it were both helpful to consumers — and feasible from a climate change standpoint — to keep hybrid models that run on gas on the market? Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute & Toyota Motor Corporation's Chief Scientist joins Cheddar Climate to discuss his team's research about 'carbon return on investment,' how Toyota is electrifying its fleet, and more.
Fresh off of a $42 million Series B Fundraise, co-founder and CEO of Chapter, Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's business model and how it will use the capital going forward. He explained that Chapter is a Medicare advisor that searches savings on medical options in order to help users find the right plan for them. "We want to make sure we can help all of our existing members and as many new Americans find the right Medicare coverage, so we're hiring aggressively for the best talent we can," Blumenfeld-Gantz said.
