Are streaming exclusives dead? Not quite, but they tend to veer towards the promotional side of things nowadays: an album will be available everywhere, but (for example) live EPs are fair game for single-service exclusives. Witness Mabel’s ‘Stripped Session’ acoustic EP, which is exclusive to Apple Music. She is also the latest artist to turn curator on that service, choosing 50 old-school R&B and hip-hop tracks for Apple’s ‘Urban Throwback’ playlist, and topping it with her own cover of Mario’s ‘Just A Friend’, which is on the new EP.
Also new, a Marshmello-fronted Apple Music playlist from Ministry of Sound (which has made all its playlists exclusive to the service) called ‘Mainstage’. “Check out all my favorite festival slappers,” as Marshmello put it in a tweet. Which calls for a round of Music Ally’s new favourite game: ‘How many of their own tracks did an artist put on the playlist they curated?’ Marshmello scores seven out of 40: a 17.5% rating.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…