Glass Animals, the UK four piece signed to super-producer Paul Epworth’s label Wolf Tone, have racked up 100m streams worldwide on Spotify – as their manager credits streaming with providing the band with the longevity they needed to make an impact on the global market.
According to Spotify’s publicly stated $0.007 per-stream rate, the band will have generated somewhere in the region of $700,000 for themselves and other rightsholders on the platform.
Glass Animals debut album Zaba was released in June last year via Universal‘s Harvest Records in the US and on the major’s label services division, Caroline International, in all other territories.
The LP has sold over 190,000 units in the US, and finally peaked at No.1 on the Alternative New Artist Chart last week after 64 weeks.
“Without the word-of-mouth excitement that came via the streaming platforms – first spotify and now apple music – we would never have managed to sustain a campaign that took the band from unknowns to headlining sold out shows.”
Amy Morgan, Manager
The band are currently on a sold-out US tour, which includes shows atT5 and the Wiltern in LA.
On Spotify, the band have over 187,000 followers. 35m of their 100m plays have been accrued by Gooey, the lead single from Zaba which is currently featuring in the new iPhone 6S ‘reveal’ commercial.
The ad attracted 20,000 views in the first 45 minutes of launching, and is already at over 1.7million views within it’s first week.
Amy Morgan, Manager, Glass Animals said: “Streaming allowed us to put music at the centre of this campaign. We have been incredibly lucky, there was no novelty or hype with Glass Animals; initially there was a band who made a record they believed in and a grass roots audience that connected with it.
“The audience grew as people shared the album and play listed tracks thanks to the platform and support Spotify gave us. Tickets sold to shows sold globally and the world around Zaba and Glass Animals began to grow. The campaign built around that buzz and pushed things to another level as radio and press kicked in.
“But without that initial connection between band and audience and the word of mouth excitement that came via the streaming platforms – first Spotify and now Apple Music as well – we would never have managed to sustain a campaign that took the band from unknowns at SXSW 2014 to headlining sold out shows at The Wiltern in LA, T5 in NYC, Shepherds Bush in London and gathering huge crowds at major international festivals all round the world just over 15 months later.”
“The power of streaming, helped significantly by Spotify’s early support, has rarely been more evident than in the campaign for zaba.”
Emma Greengrass, caroline international
Zaba was produced by frontman Dave Bayley under executive production of Paul Epworth, who has previously worked with the likes of Adele, Florence & The Machine, Lana Del Rey and Lorde.
Emma Greengrass, Head of UK Label at Caroline International, said:
“The power of streaming helped significantly by Spotify’s early support of Glass Animals has rarely been more evident than in the campaign for ‘Zaba’.
“Having a no 1 album on the US Alternative chart over a year after the albums release is astonishing.
“Now we also have Apple Music on the playing field, we are looking forward to the rest of this year with the album continuing to do great business in many markets”Music Business Worldwide
