RESISTING: Multi-Grammy winner Adele — still insisting on conventional delivery media for her music
BusinessDay, By Tim Bradshaw: A small number of prominent artists have held back most of their music from online streaming services IT WAS Adele’s night at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, where the British singer won six awards including best album for 21, which has sold 17-million copies around the world. Adele’s international success makes the absence of her album from digital music streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer and Rdio all the more glaring. She is one of a small number of prominent artists who have held back most of their music from streaming services, amid concern they can undermine or "cannibalise" purchases of albums on CD or more established download stores such as Apple’s iTunes. But Spotify and its rivals are hitting back at this criticism — and, after years of industry scepticism, their arguments seem to be winning over many music-company chiefs. With Spotify recently topping 3-million subscribers to become one of the world’s largest subscription music services, the music industry’s tone is beginning to warm towards digital streaming. Even Warner Music, one of Spotify’s staunchest critics a few years ago, has been won over, with CEO Steve Cooper telling analysts recently that streaming services are "coming on strong". Although they generate less than 10% of digital revenue, their faster growth rate than downloads means "you will eventually see those lines cross", Cooper said. Adele and other holdouts such as The Beatles are becoming the "corner cases", says Ken Parks, Spotify’s chief content officer. "These just happen to be higher-profile examples. The vast majority of artists and their labels are behind this model. "Source: BusinessDay