Talk with Pete Ganbarg, head of A & R for Atlantic Records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBr6Ny1nyFI
1. Explain different ways A & R spot talent.
They look for things that are different from anything else. It could be a person who is
starting on the internet and gaining organic views, or someone that they really believe could
become famous but currently do not have a following. Its gut and playing their cards right. They
try to listen to everything.
2. How many songs a uploaded to streaming services per day?
There are roughly twenty thousand songs uploaded every day. On spotify, they get
around thirty thousand per day.
3. What is the artist-friendly approach Ganbarg describes?
A long term approach that supports the artist no matter how long it takes for them to take
off. It could be songs, or albums, or years. There is an incredible stability in management that
allows the companies to be safe and secure. These people are still considered rookies after ten
years of having the job.
4. How does Atlantic promote new artists?
They first need to love and support the artist. They make teams and they give everyone a
specific job behind the curtain and go about it like sports, very serious. They serve the market
and have patience till they succeed. They follow the growth of the artist and continue working
with them for as long as they grow.
5. What did Atlantic, and what did 21 Pilots each do to develop a fan base?
They all need to start with talent and a drive to have a good show. They need to listen to
what the consumer wants and cater to their scenes. They get good followings in cities and then
spread outward until they make a following in many different cities.
6. What is Atlantic's mindset about introducing a new artist to Top 40 Radio?
The top 40 radio needs to come to them first. They do not want to seem needy but instead
will wait until the radio really needs the specific sound that the artist can give them.
7. What makes a great A & R executive
A long term person who is able to listen to the public and to see what they want. They are
able to see people who can inspire many different groups of people and to hit certain niches that
the audience can split into. A good A & R person will be able to help people with many different
sounds.

Ep. 205 Billboard Magazine's Glenn Peoples Joins to Discuss Streaming Playlists, Payola and
Playola https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZtJZ3vleA (58:00)
1. What is the difference between payola and playola?
 Payola is when record companies bribe disk jockeys to play and promote certain songs
over ones that they would have organically chosen by happenstance over the radio. Playola is a
very similar modern bribe to put songs on online playlists. Online playlists are often sorted by
genre on popular streaming applications.
2. How are playlists used in an unfair manner?

These playlists are very public as they are often on the front pages on these streaming
platforms. If I tab over to spotify there is a Game of Thrones inspired playlist, which most
certainly is a marketing ploy for the popular TV show. There was just an episode so many people
might still be in the mood. The playlist is brand new and already have over 200,000 followers.
The playlists here also promote “late night vibes.” This means that spotify indeed knows what
time it is where I am and is taking a stab at the type of music I may want to listen to right now. It
also knows what I normally listen to and then adjusts the playlists off of that.

3. Explain the importance and impact of playlists for artists.

Playlists are an excellent way for artists to gain new listeners if they are organically put
on a popular playlist. People might really connect with the song and then research more about
the band. But it could also have a negative reaction and add to one hit wonder culture as maybe
one song will only be heard off of an album and no more thought is put into the song nor artist.
4. Explain in a paragraph what happened with Drake's Spotify Scorpion release? How does this
tie in to these topics? https://ambrosiaforheads.com/2018/07/drake-spotify-scorpion-scandal-
reports/
Spotify has aggressively marketed Drakes new release by flying banners as soon as it was
dropped. They made an announcement on Twitter that his album has been streamed over ten
million timer per hour. Multiple songs off of the album were added to multiple Spotify released
playlists. They do not do this for every artist, why Drake? Spotify wanted to break records by
promoting the artist who was already the most popular. These are considered advertisements,
even though people specifically pay for no advertisements.
5. How did Lil Nax X's cover of "Old Town Road" shatter streaming records? Explain in detail.
The country remix took over the airwaves and continues to be at the top of the charts. At
143 million streams it broke Drake's previously set record of 116.2 million streams. The song
which is a ridiculous country dubstep remix was instantly latched onto by the internet, who made
it a meme and it appears in many short comedy videos. They use the song in the background to a
silly little sketch. And everyone seems to be making them. It is a nice little inside joke that is
actually propelling a song to incredible degrees of popularity.