Drake Is Back in Earnest

"In 2009, after he had retired from his old career as a teen-age actor, and just as he was launching his new career as a grownup hip-hop star, Drake made a prediction: "When my album drop, bitches'll buy it for the picture / And niggas'll buy it, too, and claim they got it for they sister." His verse betrayed lots of confidence about the magnitude of his growing popularity and also, perhaps, a few misgivings about the nature of it."

"Back then, conventional wisdom still held that achieving pop-music success meant selling your album to a wide range of customers, including some who might have felt sheepish about their purchase. But the rise of Drake coincided with a shift in the business model of pop music: our most successful artists no longer need to worry about who is and isn't buying their albums."

"In the streaming era, people don't need to pay for albums at all; they can just press play on whatever they're in the mood for, or else let playlists and algorithms guide them. There is nothing to buy, besides a subscription, and therefore nothing to justify: you can listen to all the Drake you want, no alibi required."

"In 2016, the first year streaming services accounted for the majority of American music-industry revenue, Drake was the most listened-to artist on Spotify. (He is currently the third most listen"

After retiring as a teen actor, Drake launched a grownup hip-hop career and predicted strong sales tied to his image. His debut album, Thank Me Later, reached the top of album charts in America and Canada, showing wide mainstream appeal. Conventional pop wisdom once assumed artists needed to sell to many customers, including those who might feel embarrassed about buying. Drake’s rise coincided with a shift as physical album sales collapsed and listeners moved to digital downloads and then streaming services like Spotify. In streaming, listeners pay subscriptions rather than buying albums, so there is no purchase to justify. Drake’s streaming dominance reflected this new model, where access and listening replace album sales.

Read at The New Yorker