Music Industry

Indie Artists Come Up the Big Winners with Christmas Music

Attention, everyone: The time for playing Christmas music is over. Please return to your regularly scheduled program. However, we should acknowledge the big winners in the Christmas music sweepstakes.

Yes, Mariah Carey, the Pogues and whoever has the rights to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” and the horrible “Christmas Shoes” will ring in 2018 with big royalty cheques from both radio airplay and streaming, but they’re not the only who will be getting a little something extra.

Who? Indie artists, many of whom you’ve never, ever heard of. This is from Medium.com.

Have you heard any new or unfamiliar artists in your Christmas stations this year? Probably, yes. Some independent artists do fantastic this time of the year and can get more spins than many household names.

Listening habits shifts after Halloween. Holiday music swells after the calendar turns to November. Come December, holiday songs are as popular as the best-performing pop, hip-hop, and R&B songs.

In the week ended December 26th, holiday music dominated a handful of Pandora’s top 10s:

– 9 of the top 10 artists
– 9 of the top 10 tracks
– 7 of the top 10 stations

Keep reading.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38011 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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