Music Industry

Drake and Charlie Sloth (Source: BBC)

Charlie Sloth, one of the leading hip-hop radio DJs in the UK, has announced that he’s leaving BBC Radio for Apple Music.

Sloth, who has been with the network for a decade, has hosted shows on Radio 1 and 1Xtra. His rap freestyle segment “Fire in the Booth” is globally renowned. The segment has featured appearances from Drake, Stormzy, Big Shaq, and many more.

It hasn’t been revealed what his role at Apple Music will be, but there is speculation that he will be hosting a new show on Beats 1 and contributing to the platform’s playlists.

Sloth isn’t the only BBC host to leave for Apple Music. In 2015, Zane Lowe departed the network to launch a show on Beats 1.

Sloth posted the following message on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

After almost 10 years of dedicating my life to BBC radio 1xtra & Radio 1 and achieving everything I set out to I’ve decided the time has come to leave the BBC and seek a new challenge. I want to thank everybody who has listened to me over the years and supported me in everything I have done I love you and the journey continues. I also want to say a huge thank you to the following people for always believing in me and supporting me while at the Bbc. Dellessa James Alex lawless Carlene Morlese Rob little john Julie Shepherd Rebecca frank Joe Harland Rhys Hughes Lim La Richards Janine kempadoo Hermet Chadha Rachal Mcalroy Alex Rata Lucy Hickling And especially Ben cooper for being a great leader and for giving me all the opportunities he has to prove myself I’m forever grateful I hope all my colleagues at 1xtra and radio 1 keep up the amazing work it’s been an incredible place to work and I’m honoured to have done so. I joined the BBC as a boy and I leave as a man. Together we have created some moments that will live forever. Charlie Sloth ❤️❤️❤️❤️ ANNOUNCEMENT ON WHATS NEXT COMING SOON ❤️

A post shared by Charlie Sloth (@charliesloth) on Oct 3, 2018 at 1:36pm PDT

Related: DJcity UK’s Most Downloaded Tracks of Sept. 2018

Subscription radio giant SiriusXM has announced that it’s acquiring music streaming service Pandora in a deal valued at $3.5 billion.

The merger will help SiriusXM expand its presence beyond vehicles into the home and mobile areas. On the flip side, Pandora will be able to utilize SiriusXM’s automotive relationships to expand its service to cars.

According to SiriusXM’s press release, the deal “creates the world’s largest audio entertainment company.”

Jim Meyer, CEO of SiriusXM, said:

“The addition of Pandora diversifies SiriusXM’s revenue streams with the U.S.’s largest ad-supported audio offering, broadens our technical capabilities, and represents an exciting next step in our efforts to expand our reach out of the car even further. … Together, we will deliver even more of the best content on radio to our passionate and loyal listeners, and attract new listeners, across our two platforms.”

Roger Lynch, CEO of Pandora, said:

“We’ve made tremendous progress in our efforts to lead in digital audio. Together with SiriusXM, we’re even better positioned to take advantage of the huge opportunities we see in audio entertainment, including growing our advertising business and expanding our subscription offerings.”

Related: Meet Globalization’s Program Director, Edwin Paredes (DJ Phenom)

Spotify has announced a new feature that could transform the music industry.

The feature, which is part of the Spotify for Artists platform, enables acts to upload their music directly to the streaming service without the need for a third-party distributor or record label.

Right now, uploading is only available by invitation to a few hundred US-based independent artists, but Spotify says it will “bring upload to even more artists, labels, and teams in the future.”

By enabling artists to upload directly, Spotify has moved into the space of user-uploaded audio content, which has traditionally been dominated by SoundCloud.

It is the latest move by Spotify to work directly with artists. In July, the company introduced a tool that enables artists to submit their music for playlist consideration. And earlier this year, Spotify confirmed that it’s signing direct, non-exclusive deals with independent artists.

Learn more about the upload feature here.

Related: DJcity’s Spotify Playlist Update: Sept. 18

After a brief hiatus, DJ/producer Vice has returned with a new episode of his Electric Taco series. On this installment, the Los Angeles native meets up with EDC founder Pasquale Rotella as they drive to the Gracias Madre restaurant in West Hollywood.

The conversation covers topics such as Rotella’s upbringing in LA, his first time hearing dance music, and his inspiration for starting music festivals.

The episode features Vice’s latest single “Don’t Go” featuring Becky G and Mr Eazi.

Watch Electric Taco above.

Related: Vice Teams With Becky G and Mr Eazi for New Single, ‘Don’t Go

Akon sat down with the Drink Champs show earlier this week for an inspiring interview. The Senegalese-American, who has been busy bringing electricity to Africa and developing his own cryptocurrency, discussed a variety of topics.

One of the themes of the interview was his role in developing artists, most notably Lady Gaga and French Montana. Both were signed to his label early in their careers.

Akon discussed why he signed Gaga, whose label at the time, Interscope, didn’t see her as a priority. He also discussed signing Montana, only to let him leave for Bad Boy Records.

“I built my career off making other people’s careers,” Akon said. “If we all did that, we’d be good.”

Watch the inspiring interview above.

Related: GASHI Enlists French Montana and DJ Snake for New Single, ‘Creep on Me’

Drake performs at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on August 14. (Credit: Andrew Potter & Chris Schwegler)

Spotify has revealed its annual list of the most-streamed songs of the summer. Play counts were tallied globally from June 1 through Aug. 20.

Coming in at No. 1 with more than 393 million streams was Drake‘s viral anthem, “In My Feelings.” The Toronto rapper dominates the list this year, placing five tracks in the top 20.

Maroon 5‘s “Girls Like You” featuring Cardi B finishes at No. 2 (293 million streams) while Cardi’s Bad Bunny and J Balvin-assisted smash “I Like It” ends at No. 3 (289 million streams).

Other notable tracks were Tyga‘s “Taste” featuring Offset (No. 9) and Nio Garcia, Darell and Casper Magico‘s Latin anthem “Te Bote Remix” featuring Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, and Ozuna (No. 13). The latter was the most-streamed song in nine countries, including Mexico and the Dominican Republic, according to Spotify.

See the chart below and follow DJcity on Spotify.

Spotify’s top global songs of summer 2018:

1. Drake – In My Feelings
2. Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B – Girls Like You
3. Cardi B ft. Bad Bunny & J Balvin – I Like It
4. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams
5. Xxxtentacion – Sad
6. Post Malone – Better Now
7. Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – One Kiss
8. Clean Bandit ft. Demi Lovato – Solo
9. Tyga ft. Offest – Taste
10. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
11. Drake – God’s Plan
12. Drake – Nice For What
13. Nio Garcia, Darell, Casper Magico ft. Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, & Ozuna – Te Bote Remix
14. Tiesto & Dzeko ft. Preme & Post Malone – Jackie Chan
15. Selena Gomez – Back To You
16. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry
17. Xxxtentacion – Moonlight
18. Drake ft. Michael Jackson – Don’t Matter To Me
19. Jonas Blue ft. Jack & Jack – Rise
20. Drake – Nonstop

Related: Spotify Reveals Most-Streamed Songs of Summer 2017

Calvin Harris at Wet Republic Ultra Pool at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. (Source: Instagram)

Forbes has released its list of the world’s highest-paid EDM DJs of 2018. Not surprisingly, Calvin Harris reigns supreme for the sixth consecutive year with earnings of $48 million.

Coming in at a close second are The Chainsmokers with $45.5 million. New to the list are Kygo and DJ Snake, who enter at No. 12 and 13 respectively. Skrillex, who ranked No. 4 in 2017 with $30 million, did not make the list this year.

Overall, the top 10 hauled in a combined $260 million, falling considerably short of last year’s $298 million. According to Forbes, it is “partly due to the maturation — and, some would say, plateauing — of the live electronic music market.”

Forbes’ rankings are calculated by using each DJ’s “pretax earnings from June 1, 2017 through June 1, 2018, before deducting fees for lawyers, agents and managers. Estimates are based on numbers from Nielsen, Pollstar, Bandsintown and Songkick, as well as interviews with industry experts and many of the stars themselves.”

See the full list below.

1. Calvin Harris – $48 million
2. The Chainsmokers – $45.5 million
3. Tiesto – $33 million
4. Steve Aoki – $28 million
5. Marshmello – $23 million
6. Zedd – $22 million
7. Diplo – $20 million
8. David Guetta – $15 million
9. Kaskade – $13.5 million
10. Martin Garrix – $13 million
11. Axwell & Ingrosso – $12 million
12. Kygo – $11.5 million
13. DJ Snake – $11 million
14. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike – $10.5 million
15. Afrojack – $10 million

Related: The World’s Highest-Paid EDM DJs of 2017

Ozuna (Source: Facebook)

Research company Nielsen has released its 2018 mid-year music report, revealing the top Latin albums and songs of the year so far. The report, which tracks the period from Dec. 29, 2017 to June 28, 2018, measures song and album sales along with audio and video streams.

Among the standout artists are Ozuna and J Balvin, who both appear multiple times on each song chart. And after dominating 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito” remix featuring Justin Bieber continues to reign supreme. The track remains the No. 1 overall selling song as well as the top on-demand streamed song with 308.98 million streams.

View the charts below.

Top 10 Selling Latin Albums

1. Ozuna, Odisea (313,000)
2. J Balvin, Vibras (145,000)
3. Maluma, F.A.M.E. (85,000)
4. Romeo Santos, Golden (83,000)
5. Shakira, El Dorado (77,000)
6. Nicky Jam, Fenix (73,000)
7. Aventura, Todavia Me Amas: Lo Mejor De Aventura (67,000)
8. CNCO, CNCO (62,000)
9. Christian Nodal, Me Deje Llevar (58,000)
10. Wisin, Victory (57,000)

Top 10 Selling Latin Songs

1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, “Despacito” (246,000)
2. Daddy Yankee, “Dura” (120,000)
3. J Balvin & Willy William ft. Beyoncé, “Mi Gente” (114,000)
4. Nicky Jam & J Balvin, “X” (91,000)
5. Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato, “Echame La Culpa” (87,000)
6. Ozuna ft. Cardi B, “La Modelo” (62,000)
7. Nio Garcia, Darell, Casper Magico ft. Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, & Ozuna, “Te Bote Remix” (59,000)
8. Ozuna & Romeo Santos, “El Farsante” (58,000)
9. Becky G ft. Bad Bunny, “Mayores” (44,000)
10. Reik ft. Ozuna & Wisin, “Me Niego” (40,000)

Top 10 On-Demand Latin Song Streams (Audio and Video Combined)

1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, “Despacito” (308,980,000)
2. Ozuna & Romeo Santos, “El Farsante” (212,042,000)
3. Daddy Yankee, “Dura” (198,437,000)
4. J Balvin & Willy William ft. Beyoncé, “Mi Gente” (195,776,000)
5. Nicky Jam & J Balvin, “X” (156,952,000)
6. Nio Garcia, Darell, Casper Magico ft. Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, & Ozuna, “Te Bote Remix” (149,214,000)
7. Ozuna ft. Cardi B, “La Modelo” (149,126,000)
8. El Chombo, “Dame Tu Cosita” (148,941,000)
9. Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato, “Echame La Culpa” (127,763,000)
10. Natti Natasha ft. Ozuna, “Criminal” (124,303,000)

Top 10 On-Demand Latin Song Streams

1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, “Despacito” (119,802,000)
2. J Balvin & Willy William ft. Beyoncé, “Mi Gente” (97,766,000)
3. Ozuna & Romeo Santos, “El Farsante” (78,091,000)
4. Nicky Jam & J Balvin, “X” (77,113,000)
5. Nio Garcia, Darell, Casper Magico ft. Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, & Ozuna, “Te Bote Remix” (75,764,000)
6. Daddy Yankee, “Dura” (73,993,000)
7. Ozuna ft. Cardi B, “La Modelo” (71,955,000)
8. Ozuna, Mambo Kingz & DJ Luian ft. Bad Bunny, Wisin & Almighty, “Solita” (52,760,000)
9. Bad Bunny, Prince Royce & J Balvin, “Sensualidad” (51,503,000)
10. Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato, “Echame La Culpa” (51,503,000)

Top 10 On-Demand Latin Video Streams

1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, “Despacito” (189,178,000)
2. El Chombo, “Dame Tu Cosita” (147,694,000)
3. Ozuna & Romeo Santos, “El Farsante” (133,951,000)
4. Daddy Yankee, “Dura” (124,444,000)
5. J Balvin & Willy William ft. Beyoncé, “Mi Gente” (98,010,000)
6. DJ Kass, “Scooby Doo Pa Pa” (90,570,000)
7. Nicky Jam & J Balvin, “X” (79,839,000)
8. Ozuna ft. Cardi B, “La Modelo” (77,171,000)
9. Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato, “Echame La Culpa” (76,260,000)
10. Natti Natasha ft. Ozuna, “Criminal” (75,189,000)

Sources: Nielsen and Billboard

Related: Watch Q&As From the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Conference

Diplo performs at Hyde Beach in Miami on March 23, 2018. (Credit: Dylan Rives/World Red Eye)

Since 1823, Oxford University’s historic debate society, the Oxford Union, has hosted numerous high profile speakers. From Winston Churchill to Albert Einstein to Michael Jackson, the list is full of influential people who’ve helped shape the world.

In May, Oxford added Diplo to the list. “I never imagined my career would take me somewhere like this,” the 40-year-old DJ/producer said at the beginning of his speech.

During the hour-long conversation, Diplo gave a speech about his career and participated in a Q&A session with the audience. He discussed how traveling abroad influenced the development of his career, his thoughts on the current hip-hop scene, the lack of female representation in the DJ world, among many other topics.

On how he stays passionate about DJing:

“I found a way to regulate my life so I can get work done and do shows. And I’m actually really lucky that I love it. … The randomness of my career and the eclecticness of what I DJ makes it easy to do different things. I never plan a DJ set. I have so many different projects I can pull from to play. It might be the pop songs [or] it might be something underground I just created. I think when people come see me play they’re going to expect to be surprised. So I’ve been really lucky that I never get bored.”

On the younger generation of rappers:

“It’s fascinating to see how, if you look at the top charts on Spotify or Apple Music, the top 20 charts [are] gonna have 19 rap songs by young kids that are between 15 and 20 years old. And I think that’s an amazing shift because the audience wants that. They’re reaching people directly. And I feel like hip-hop always had the chance to be that music that reaches directly, but there was always a guard by the labels, by the radio, and now we don’t need any of that. You just go straight to SoundCloud or Spotify, and you’re reaching an audience. So I love that. I love the rebelliousness of and the anarchist qualities of these young guys who were on the last EP I just produced.”

On how an aspiring songwriter can get his attention:

“I listen to as much music as I possibly can, but now you have to be something crazy. I’ve lived in [Los Angeles] for so long, and there’s such a songwriter-y world there where the songs are the same. They’re just dressed up differently, and I’m so bored. … But I’ve always been the kind of guy that’s been on the outside, trying to do something different. And it’s never been easy for me to write a simple song or pop music. And I think you have to be really exciting. I don’t have an ear for pop that much. I have more of an ear for craziness, and I can help you figure out how to make that work. … [So] just be different because we have so much of the same happening right now in the music scene that I think that if you push yourself to be as crazy as possible it’s gonna be your only hope to succeed.”

Watch the interview below.

Related: Watch Diplo Perform at Boiler Room’s London Headquarters

DJ Tessa performs at the LA Food Bowl. (Credit: Matthew Withers)

In an industry that is still predominantly run by men, Tessa Young a.k.a. DJ Tessa is pushing boundaries for female DJs. While DJing in Los Angeles in the early 2010s, the Reno, Nevada native noticed that booking agencies had few women on their rosters. With years of DJ experience, connections, and a paralegal background, Tessa launched Prism DJs, an all-female agency.

Launched in 2015, Prism books DJs for mostly mobile gigs such as corporate events, weddings, and other special and private events. The agency currently has 23 DJs on its roster, including Annalyze, ShanLynn, MissNINJA, and Frazier Davis. As the female DJ movement continues to rise, we caught up with Tessa to discuss Prism DJs, the challenges of running an all-female agency, what she looks for when signing new talent, and more.

Why do you think there is such a low number of women represented by DJ agencies?

I think there are just more male DJs than female DJs in general, so it was never going to be equal based on the ratio. But now, in a time when mixing and production lessons are more accessible, less intimidating, and our male counterparts are more supportive, I see more women genuinely interested in music production and DJing. In turn, more women will be added to these rosters eventually. We all need to make it a priority to level up creatively and skill-wise if we want to play on the same field.

How does Prism differ from other agencies?

Our DJs are talented, vetted, and have several years of experience. Also, I make it a priority to protect Prism’s DJs by being transparent, ensuring timely payments, handling riders, logistics, and securing, and enforcing contracts.

What are some of the unique skills required for being a mobile DJ versus a club or festival DJ?

Being a mobile DJ is definitely more labor intensive if you are setting up and breaking down your own gear. If there is a technical problem, you need to know how to fix it yourself. As a mobile DJ, especially for weddings and dance parties, the DJ needs to know how to read a crowd and select accordingly, be aware of energy levels, have knowledge of many genres, and span generations of music. Club and festival DJs might have the luxury of playing their own produced tracks or a curated set. Sometimes they get their own on-site audio technicians that standby to handle technical difficulties for them. They can have more freedom to play what they want or what they specialize in, rather than a mobile DJ that caters to the crowd.

Prism DJs at Serato’s studio in Los Angeles. (Source: Instagram)

What is the biggest challenge of running an all-female DJ agency?

The Los Angeles market is very competitive, whether you are male or female. There are so many amazing DJ options. In this social media-driven world we now live in, we need to market ourselves more sophisticatedly and creatively. Just being titled a “female DJ” or “female DJ agency” does not ensure work.

What do you look for when adding new talent to your roster?

I look for several things: above-average mixing skills, exceptional selection, vast knowledge of music genres, professionalism, and a positive attitude. I prefer that the DJs can jump on any gear with ease, including turntables, CDJs, controllers, and various mixers. DJs must also have more than two years of experience playing regularly in public. In the age of social media, it is also important for the DJ to have a good online image because clients are doing their own research to make sure that their DJ choice is a good brand match for their event.

What are your plans for the company and where do you see it going?

Prism DJs is still growing as an agency and brand, so I am continuing to work diligently on that. In the very near future, I would like Prism DJs to get more involved with the community and offer workshops to young, aspiring female DJs. Other than that, we’ll just see where this takes us!

Do you have any advice for someone who’s looking to start a DJ agency ?

If you have good eyes and ears for talent, along with marketing, management, and administrative skills, then you have all the necessary elements required for a successful agency. Go for it!

Follow DJ Tessa on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Prism DJs on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Related: Las Vegas Talent Buyer Dave Fogg Gives Insight Into His Booking Process