*Moving Prince‘s catalog to streaming media is just what the doctor ordered as far as the late music icon’s fans are concerned.
You could say the convenient services – Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon – have his partisans partying to his music like it’s … not 1999, but 2017 … because his music is readily available to whoever, wherever anytime of the day …. and worldwide, we might add.
As previously reported, the late Minneapolis legend racked up 3.7 million streams on Monday alone — up nearly 10,000 percent from the prior week, when his music was available from only one streaming company, Tidal.
To demonstrate what a difference the situation is now than when his music was only available on Jay Z’s Tidal, on Sunday, the day his music hit most streaming sites, his songs, led by “Purple Rain” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” were streamed more in two days than in the entire prior year on Tidal, according to Nielsen Entertainment.
“This is a special moment, where an incomparably deep catalog suddenly becomes available,” said David Bakula, senior vice president of analytics at Nielsen, which monitors album sales and streaming.
The music streamers really are digging deep into Prince’s catalog, too. Bakula singled out the songs “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” and “Computer Blue” as less-than-famous cuts that also saw giant boosts, a trend that indicates his popularity on these sites should be long-term.
“People aren’t just going on to hear the big hits, they’re going back and rediscovering the very bottom of the catalog,” he said.
At the top of the singles list in streaming was “Purple Rain,” which earned 333,000 streams in one day. The song performed by Bruno Mars during Sunday’s Grammy Awards, “Let’s Go Crazy,” was next, followed by “When Doves Cry,” “Little Red Corvette” and “Kiss.”
In other music news, a rock n roll/R&B pioneer and legend is now in the big studio in the sky, although, for reason that hasn’t been shared, we’re just now hearing about his death which happened near the end of last month.
Known as San Francisco’s first rock star after his song “Do You Want to Dance” climbed the pop charts in 1958, Bobby Freeman (pictured above) has died. According to reports, Freeman passed away on Jan. 23 at his home in Daly City, CA. He was 76.
The cause was a heart attack, his son, Robert Freeman Jr., said.
Freeman wrote and sang what became known as “Do You Wanna Dance,” which reached No. 5 on the Billboard singles chart, at the age of nineteen. The song went through many reinterpretations — and return visits to the chart — in the hands of artists such as the Beach Boys, John Lennon, Bette Midler, the Mamas & the Papas, and the Ramones, who all put their own spin on the joyously upbeat tune.
“Do You Wanna Dance” was also featured in George Lucas’ breakthrough 1973 film, “American Graffiti,” which was based on the director’s teenage years growing up in Modesto and sparked the 1950s and ’60s revival that led to the TV series “Happy Days” and blockbuster musical “Grease.”
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