Tl;Dr post malone and Meghan trainor cancelling shows because most of their "streams" don't come from real people but moreso background listening at places Planet Fitness playing background music. This reminds me of the Lizzo situation in that other thread where it's like where did all her "fans" go

We hold streaming numbers in such high regard but think about how many retail spaces or gyms or restaurants exist and presumably those plays count as streams. It kinda benefits you to make safe background easy listening music. I know I Shazam s*** from CVS and taco bell especially all the time lol. Reframes how one could look at big streaming numbers

I don't think Drake falls into this (to an extent...) We generally listen to him and know people that do

But I notice Everytime I go to walmart lately, it catches me off guard that hotline bling is prominently featured on the Walmart playlist now, word to yasiin Bey lol

Department store music

Coworker music

unironically i heard massive when i went into walmart the other day

Meghan Trainor and Post Malone kiss at Michael Rubin’s all white party

porky ahh niggas

I have sweat rash on my love handles

It was the same thing with radio payola

This s*** lowkey crazier cause it's built into the system without anyone having to pay or initiate it and we don't even really think about it lol

CVS is powering a lot of careers

Ohhhhhhh streaming

yes, Spotify has retail deals with companies like Starbucks and Target and Apple so the devices Apple provides for the stores come pre-loaded with Spotify playlists, why this numbers s*** and Spotify focus has to be deaded quickly

realized this when i was manager and would unplug the device to plug my phone into the aux and artists would “takeover” the playlist for a month which in reality is just a boost to their streaming numbers from playlists playing their music across 1000+ stores, 12+ hours a day

good linked vid. im surprisd post malone dealing w this problem, he seems like the exact artist casual white/nonBlack listeners wud pay to go see

"so many skus!" still makes me laugh to this day

Yea you should look into when dua lupa was in trouble for scamming radio play then look at the failure of her next era after that. None of this is real

White people ain't f***ing with that Post Malone pivot?

My GOAT has been selling out shows across the world for like 4 years now and hasn’t had to cancel a single one

nigga this s*** kinda crazy lol

Fetty wap still has 20 million monthly listeners based off one album from a decade ago. But I doubt any of them are checking for his new s***

Meghan popping like that?

I heard Drake being played at McDonald’s idk if that’s what mos def meant or not

:he: iykyk

how is this any different from artists who the radio constantly played while people irl didn’t listen to them