Hello and welcome to The Price of Music, brought to you by Music Ally.

It's the show that enjoys nothing more than pondering the finances of the music industry while trying to make sense of this weird pop music landscape that we live in.

I'm Steve Lamack, He's Stuart Dredge if you want an easy guide to what's going on in the music biz and how it all works and how the figures stack up.

And here we are every week.

This week, good news, some good news, at least in the annual UK Music report bought the 1970 fives Great disappearing song.

Mystery solved.

Also, two more grass roots venues have their futures secured and records made out of coal dust.

But first, as is tradition, this week's impressive stats Stuart.

This week's big figure is.

My big figure this week is 713 million, which is this is how many people are listening to Spotify every month according to its financial results which came out last week.

So it's got 713 million listeners, which so there are two points here.

1 is a year ago it had 640 million.

So it's added what's that?

73 million people in a year.

And you know how we talk quite a lot about people launching boycotts of Spotify or saying cancel your subscription and protests.

This kind of puts the same respective where actually it's not really having an impact.

It's growing pretty well still.

And the other point is they there was financial results and Spotify's operating profit last quarter alone was €582,000,000.

And this is one of the things about people say, Oh yeah, it loses loads of money, doesn't it?

But no, not anymore.

They're making a lot of money and they're growing fast, despite all the stuff we talk about that's controversial.

Yeah, because it is.

I mean, there was a point where it was posting loss after loss after loss, as you say, in recent times.

No, they're very much in profit now.

Very much so, yes.

So it's a, it's interesting, it's a picture of the the biggest streaming service in terms of paying people.

It's at 281 million people paying for Spotify now or at least on a paid account.

Some of them are family.

So that's the kind of top of the market and everything else is kind of in its wake at the moment.

OK, three interesting stories from the past week which we thought we'd be good to touch on.

We'll start with this which only came out this morning as a new report which reveals that music's contribution to the UK economy last year was a record £8 billion.

This is the annual UK music report, as I say only came out this morning, Wednesday morning.

So I've only had a very brief chance to scan it.

But you've you've seen this ahead of it's embargoes release I think.

So what?

What are the headlines, The major headlines, Stuart?

Yeah.

So it's that usual thing with the industry put where it's kind of some good news and some not so good news.

So the good news is, like you said, £8 billion, that's music's value to the economy last year, a new record, it's up from 7.6 billion the year before, which is about, I'm trying to work it out in my head, it's 5% growth maybe or something.

And the other thing is UK music exports, the value of British music around the world outside the UK, that grew by 5% to £4.8 billion, which is now a new record.

So it kind of sounds like pints all round, hurrah.

But there's a there's a downside to this.

And UK music and the support.

So UK music, it's the umbrella body, isn't it, for the music industry.

So everyone else is below it.

And it pointed out that the rate of growth is slowing.

So I looked this up last year, the economic value had grown by 13% and exports are grown by 15% and now it's down to 5%.

So it's a very big slow down in the growth of this money, even though it's still a record.

Yeah.

So I thought it was interesting really.

So yeah, it was kind of a big figures, but we've got some problems with just.

I did notice there was quite a lengthy quote from I think Yvette Cooper talking about, you know, the value of British music around the globe.

And so I'm thinking this is this is something we touched on, I think when Kevin Brennan, Lord Brennan was on the program the other week.

Politicians are very quick to take music and champion it for all it's worth.

But actually around this case, the government have committed some money, haven't they, to, to help the industry.

And and I think that's something something like 3030 million pounds, is it?

I think so, yeah.

So there's some stuff.

And this is the other thing you just say is some stuff happening.

I was reading last week because there's some stuff happening with music education too, which is something the industry been asking for.

So the government is doing stuff.

But yeah, the other thing is that I think this report, and this is always the case with these reports, they're often saying, right, but here's what we want next.

And it's two things, isn't it?

I think 1 is we want you to regulate AI in the way we want you to regulate it.

Make sure that we get paid.

And the other thing is, is that that that old chestnut Brexit red.

Tape.

And just that the whole thing of touring Europe is still full of red tape and difficult for bands and they want the government to do.

And wasn't it?

Was it Keir Starmer last week was saying, Oh yeah, I see that it's a real problem, we're going to sort it out.

I felt there was some movement on that recently in words.

I mean, the, the music has been identified by the current government as potentially one of the big growth areas and it is committed to music, amongst other things, as being, they've identified that as somewhere where they'd like to exist.

I mean, growth is what the government are always going on about at the moment, isn't it?

So they've identified music as something which could be very valuable in this.

But yes, there are things again, very, I saw very briefly in the report something about making it, as you say, easier for UK artists to get out and tour Europe.

And it's the, because, but touring Europe and I, I think it reports as well that an increased percentage of British artists saying, yeah, it's more difficult to tour Europe.

I've, I've made less money and it's more difficult.

And you know, in these days where we've already talked about how expensive it is for UK artists to go to the States these days with the price of visas and everything, and I can't see, I can't see America doing anything to make it easier for, for artists outside of America to go to America.

So Europe's a really important part of a group, an artist's career.

And yeah, there are a lot of moves behind the scenes, I think to try and encourage discussion between Europe and the UK government to create some sort of, you know, creative waiver scheme where it would be easier.

But yes, the music industry is definitely pushing for more action from government to try and make it easier for for British artists to go to go abroad.

Yeah, and I think it's because of these two issues, AI and Brexit, Like AI there are there are two sides.

There is the AI companies saying, please relax copyright rules, stop making us pay for things and the music industry saying don't do that, that would be terrible.

And so there's the government is sort of between two sides.

But with Brexit red tape, I mean, there's no, there's no one saying no, we should keep Brexit red tape.

It's brilliant.

Like there really is no argument for it other than it hasn't been dealt with.

So, you know, I'm more hopeful of that.

Some momentum there of saying, right, we need to sort this out.

Yeah, I think part of what's happening behind the scenes is because there are, I mean, we think it's a one way problem, but it would, I think particularly the live music industry is trying to explain, well, no, it's not really because you're missing out on British.

European promoters are also now saying, well, we'd like more British artists to come and we want this band and this band, but they won't come because it's too difficult, because there's too much paperwork and it's too expensive and the rules are so onerous when it comes to, you know, the ease of touring.

So I think that's the thing.

It's trying to get some of some of the European music industry people to go.

No, no, actually, you know, it'd be in Europe.

Hello, hello, Europe.

The powers that be in Europe.

Actually, we want it as well.

We're the ones missing out too.

And if you can make that argument, it'll be easier than just the UK saying sorry, we left you, but can we come back in?

With our guitars, yeah.

Yeah, with our guitars.

Yeah, exactly that right story too.

Now this is a good one.

Although what the implications are for musicians from this and in fact that the entire future of pop music, I don't know.

But did you do you think, here's the question, do you think you can tell the difference between human made music and AI generated music?

If we were to say here's an AI track and here's a humor track, could you tell the difference?

Because for Ringly, a study by the streaming service Deezer suggests you might be wrong when it comes to this.

Almost certainly wrong.

So this is, I mean, this is fascinating because I think, I think we, we would probably say the same, wouldn't we?

We can tell an AI track from human track.

We love music.

But yeah, so Deezer.

So Deezer's really been banging the drum about AI music and the issues around it this year.

And this release, I'll get into a survey in a minute, but this release came with this new stat that Deezer is now getting 50,000 fully AI generated tracks uploaded to its service every day.

Every day.

And that is that is 34% of all the music uploaded.

So 50,000 AI tracks every single day.

On the aside, aside from anything else, I mean, that's good for the environment, isn't it?

I mean that's I mean just 50,000 tracks a day.

Do you remember when you saw was it landfill?

Indie was a genre genre a few years ago.

And this is landfill music and it's and this is it was in January.

This was 10,000 tracks a day, which tells you what's happened this year.

But anyway, that's that's the background to this.

But yeah, so these are surveyed.

I think it's 9000 people in eight countries about AI music.

And it asked them what they think about it and how they feel about it.

But it also played them two AI fully AI songs and one human song and asked them to tell which was human and 97% of people got it wrong 97.

Really.

Is, is that now down to the standard of the AI tracks that they've become more believable or that they, they, they sound more music or what?

Is it just the improvements in AI itself then I mean?

Yeah.

And what we don't know is what songs were played.

It could have been two really rubbish human tracks.

But yeah, I mean, so it says that we got to this point and the the fascinating and that the good news slightly is that they these have sent me their country breakdown because it would say 8 countries.

Turns out Brits were the best at spotting the AI track because 5% of us got it right, whereas in Japan only 1% of people got it right.

So there's something to be sort of mildly boasted about there, but not much.

Yeah.

Is this something we should be worried?

I mean, it makes me very, very nervous, all of this.

I think it makes all of us, it's like there's something uneasy about it, isn't it, that we might not know.

And actually, so this, this survey also asked people how they felt and it said, I think it was saying like 2/3 of people said they would listen to AI journeyage music at least once out of curiosity.

And I think again, that a lot of us feel that way.

But then 45% they'd like to filter it out on the streaming services and 40% said they would skip without listening if they knew it was an AI generated track.

So there is a feeling out there people, they don't want to listen to this stuff.

And yet what the survey shows is that we might not know unless it's, you know, and this is what Deezer's point of view because Deezer is one of the first streaming services to label music when it thinks it's AI generated, said this is AI generated.

So you know, and it won't be recommended to you and if you find it, you will know exactly what it is.

So it's kind of playing into what it's doing there.

And, and this, I think this survey does, does this survey and that big stat of 50,000 tracks a day does, does highlight that if you're a streaming service right now, you need to be thinking about what do you do about this?

Do you, do you label it clearly?

Do you kick it off if no one's listening to it?

How do you deal with the fact that this stuff really is exploding And and the other thing is like, I mean, I think we talked before.

So if 50,000 tracks a day is 34% of everything uploaded, that means about 150,000 tracks every day, 100,000 human ones and 50,000 AI ones, which, I mean, that's a lot of human music being uploaded.

That's a lot of noise there even without AI.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a bit of a wake up call, maybe for, for, well, the latest wake up call.

It's something we'll come back to, by the way, in this week's Lock In, which is that it's the extra bit of the show for patreonsuperfansubscribersbutanythoughtsyoumighthavethepriceymusicpodcast@gmail.com.

Story 3.

This week, the 1975 song Human 2 has disappeared from their last album on the streaming services.

So if you look up 1975's last record, it's been, it's vanished, right?

It's been.

And obviously a lot of people were saying, well, what?

Why, what?

Why suddenly has this been removed?

We know the answer now, apparently.

We do, we do.

Verified answer Yeah.

So this, what was the album?

Was it was it was being funny in a foreign language was last time, wasn't it?

Was it about 20/23/23?

211 Surprisingly short title for them, yeah.

And it wasn't, it was #1 in the UK, like a big album.

And yeah, this song has gone.

And so the the what?

Well, there's a community on Reddit, the website where Mattie Healy, the front man, actually has a verified account and he posts some replies to fans.

And so a fan was there going What's happened to Human too, you know, Where's it gone?

And he replied, he popped up and said basically, and I'll quote him, Human 2 is removed from the album.

So the album is more how I want it to be and then followed it up.

I doubt the same will happen with any other records as I'm pretty happy with them outside of What should I say from Notes on a conditional Form.

So that may also be removed, who knows?

And just left that hanging there.

I mean, it's amazing, isn't it though?

I mean, again, only something you can do in the streaming era all of a sudden.

But the the idea that you can retrospectively just retrack, list your record, I mean, imagine, I mean, I suppose we do, you know, potentially we can do, we can all do that ourselves.

Everyone can, you know, put the Stone Roses album into a separate playlist and take out the ones that they don't like.

But I don't know why I picked some of the Stone Roses.

But yeah, now, now you can just write.

OK, what's wrong with this album?

I know albums which will end up with three tracks on it if the people the ones who weren't any good.

Well, that's it.

Because I think I, probably every artist, can empathise with this.

You look at the album and you can go, I hate that song now.

That is not me anymore.

Or some songs are problematic in hindsight because culture has moved on or you've written the lyrics.

It's not, but it's interesting because yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think the, the closest parallel I can remember was there was a Kanye West album that came out and he kept tweaking with it and kept doing new mixes and uploads for a couple of weeks after it came out.

He kept releasing new versions of tracks because he wasn't happy.

Right.

I've had a thing like when I about, I don't know, 15 years ago, I was spending a lot of time trying to discover new artists.

Like I was really properly leaning into finding new stuff.

And sometimes I look back at like my favorite songs of 2015 playlist and I load them are grayed out because the artist has just deleted them from streaming, whether it's because they've left Spotify or so this is happening all the time quietly that songs do go.

But this is probably one of the most high profile things.

But I thought was interesting was like 1975.

They've got a really committed fan community.

Like they really go into bat for the band, don't they?

But the reactions on this Reddit thread are pretty mixed.

People are quite a lot of people saying, hang on a minute, like we love this song.

It's part of our lives.

There was one comment that was really interesting.

It was like saying, I deeply respect your artistic decisions and I truly admire you as a position and you know, there's a butt coming.

But I think maybe you're missing the point of your own idea that the band is something bigger than yourself.

Because once an album is released, it belongs to everyone who connected with it, not just you.

And I thought that was an interesting, thoughtful comment on why fans are upset.

Even though it's his band, he can do what you want.

I mean, if people do, and I know there's an argument that people don't often these days listen to albums in their entirety same way that we used to.

But if they do, you do get into the rhythm of a record as well, don't you?

And you know, you automatically, you know, the start of the next show when a track finishes, your brain's already going on.

The next one starts like this.

And to take a track out, I think it's a bit straight.

I mean, old school.

I just thought of the only old school rewriting of a band's history that I can use as an example.

An illustration of sort of this is when Pulp Pulp's first greatest hits album came out.

I can't remember what it was called, but if you take a scan, the track listing of the first Pulp greatest hits album, What's missing?

Miss Shapes.

Miss Shapes wasn't on the album.

And and I asked about this and they said I've just fallen out of love It don't like it really, which which I mean, I mean, 1, you know, I mean, it's one of my own favorite Pulp songs.

I don't know what, but actually you know, And also it's not a manifesto really, but for Pulp.

But it is a song which describes Pulp, the character of Pulp so well.

They just just wonder what they're thinking.

What do you want?

I mean, honestly, bands are rotten judges of their own music.

That's the conclusion I came to 20 years ago and I think probably still rings true.

It did make me think though, do you remember a few a few episodes ago we were talking about wrongly track listed albums and you had some you had a quite a firm view on Blair's The Universe.

Blair's The Universal.

No.

What's the album with The Universal on?

Oh, great Skype.

Was it great Skype?

You had, yeah, you had some quite, quite firm views on, like how attractive should have been.

Next time you see Damon, get him drunk and say, look, you know what you can do on streaming?

You can retrack list it the right way and.

Done that.

I bumped into Diamond the other the other week at a friend's birthday party.

That sounds like that's a very clunky name drop, isn't it?

I never, I haven't seen Diamond for, you know, since the last time he was in the studio with us.

We're not, we're not best mates.

Just happened to be at this party.

But I should have done that, yeah.

Anyway, right, on to any other business for this week.

Actually, we should.

We should go back.

I don't want to spend too much time on AI, but AI obviously is one of the most talked about issues in the music industry at the moment.

And particularly in the past week.

It's becoming more and more apparent, particularly after that deal between Universal and Udio, which we covered on last week's programme.

More and more musicians now and their representatives have started laying down what they want from licensing deals between labels and AI companies, haven't they coming forward and saying, look, now you're starting to do these deals.

These are the things that we as musicians, this is what we want.

And I sense there's a, there's a, you know, potential for disagreement here.

Yeah, in the music industry, I can't believe that.

Yeah.

So all the way along the music industry has been saying about AI, we need, you need to ask our permission to use our stuff, you need to pay us and you need to be transparent about how you're using our stuff.

And yeah, so what's happening now is the people who represent musicians and artists and songwriters and managers are saying, right, well, those three things kind of apply to us too, if you're a label or publisher signing a deal.

And so there's this body called the Council of Music Makers, like yet another umbrella body in the like more umbrellas than an umbrella shop, really.

But it's the it's the umbrella body for the, the, the people who represent artists, songwriters, managers, producers.

And they came up with kind of a manifesto, yes, saying, right, if you're doing an ideal AI deal was a label, here's what we want.

And it's three things.

It's basically consent.

So a label needs to ask all its musicians, do you agree to be part of this?

And that's got to be opt in.

It's not going to be like you're part of this unless you say no.

It's going to be you've got to say yes to be part of this.

You want full control over how the musicians.

But the third thing I thought was most interesting, which is like musicians should be fairly paid for all this.

And the quote is including lump sum payments, equity and legal settlements, which is kind of dry.

But I wanted to break it down because if you think about Universal Music doing a deal with Udio and there will be other deals like this, Firstly, it's settled A lawsuit and there could be a payment as part of that to Universal Music.

And so I'll just say, OK, well, how are you going to share?

Say they've given you £10,000,000 like number out of the air.

How are you sharing that with the artists who you've been acting for?

So they've signed a licensing deal, which could involve an upfront payment.

Here's £10,000,000 for the rights to use music.

How will that be shared out?

And it's going to also it, it could even involve giving a label a stake in the company.

So Universal Music could end up with a stake in Udio in the same way that all the major labels and Merlin, the indie body, had a stake in Spotify when that launched.

And at one point Spotify floating on Stock Exchange, everyone sold their shares, got a big winfall.

And then they did share that money with artists, but it's not quite the same as when an artist is getting, you know, you've been streamed 700 times, here's the money you get for royalties.

It's like there's always other ways that labels get paid.

And some musicians saying, yes, if you're getting paid by IO companies, we want to know exactly how and we want to make sure we get a fair share of that.

And that is to your point, that's the argument that's coming next.

Musicians want to know, right?

You've announced a deal with this company or that company.

We want to know exactly how that deal works so that we can understand how we we get paid.

Yeah.

So I mean, I suppose finally the other thing then from all that which you can deduce is what they what they really want as well as more transparency and wants to know how much and you know what the what the deals are and they.

Also pointed out that no record, no contracts.

Like if you're a musician you've got a contract with your label.

It almost certainly doesn't mention AI if it was any more than like this year.

So there's nothing in your contract saying what happens if they sign a deal with an air company and your music is part of it?

And so the, the musicians bodies are saying, right, you can't just go and do this without asking our permission because our contracts don't cover it.

So that's, that's the argument brewing as well.

It's like there's no, there's no contractual clause that lets you do anything without asking us first.

And that's their view.

Music venue properties we should mentioned.

I don't know if anyone saw this but the MVP last week secured the future of two more venues which was the From memory.

It's the Craft in Bristol isn't it?

And amazingly A venue which I really like The Joiners in Southampton which is a lovely little venue.

So they say we should explain what music venue Properties is just in case it's passed anyone by.

Yeah, well, it was set up by the Music Venue Trust, the charity, and it's basically it raises money from from fans and from the industry and it goes and buys venues that are in danger of closing.

And so I think it's the 6th and 7th venues now.

So it's got five more before that and it's trying to buy more.

And the idea is it owns the venue so they can't be kicked out by property developers and it makes sure they have fair rents and it will contribute towards a maintenance every year to make sure they can keep things.

I mean, there's a really funny phrase like a supportive and benevolent landlord, which is not a phrase you hear a lot.

I was, I was looking at the list of gigs these venues have had, which is kind of hits home why they're important.

Like I think the joiners have had Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Sharon, Green Day, Radiohead, Oasis, PJ Harvey, like in 1975 to go back to early stories, like I think the Crofts had Arctic Monkeys and Sharon and idols and Bring me the horizon.

Like it's a really still like these are these are small venues and they've had all these amazing artists and they were going to close if this that hadn't happened.

I think I read, I read a post might be, I think it was, might have been yesterday saying that's more than 2000 individuals had now invested in the scheme.

So just fans.

So there's at least 2000 shareholders who all own a bit of each of these venues.

I mean, it's yeah, I mean, it's a great, it's, I mean, it's AI mean it's a great initiative.

This alone won't save all the venues that are under threat at the moment.

But as a long term plan, I mean, it's it's hard to fault, isn't it?

Everyone, Everyone wins.

And we're going out on Wednesday this week and I think so they've got their crowdfunding campaign for the next set of money they want to raise.

It finishes this Friday or Thursday, maybe 13th of November and they're trying to raise 1.5 million, they're up to £1.3 million.

So if you listen to this and this is interesting, go and look for own our venues crowdfunder, because you could end up owning yes and bricks in those amazing venues in the history they.

And and just as a final pointer, and it's not you're not giving your money away.

It's it's not a donation you'll never see again.

It's it's investment in a charitable organization which will pay you interest.

So yeah, as I say, who who doesn't win out of this?

Oh, well, now this is something we nearly did this story last week and ran out of time, but can I can I bring back the because in these days when we, you know, we're all enjoying albums again, but probably looking for alternatives to old school, not so eco friendly vinyl.

This Enter ancestral reverb, a new vinyl record.

So this is a new vinyl record made using coal dust.

And yes, that sounds strange.

I, I mean, I, I don't know how it works.

People are making records, they have all sorts of stuff, aren't they Bamboo, coal dust, coal.

Tell us more about Ancestral Reverb.

Yeah.

So this is, this is interesting because I think we all know when we think about something like coal and coal mining, we think, oh God, the pallet is burning and coal is 10 fossil fuels.

And this is the project.

I think it came originally from the Durham Miners Association and it's got a great high concept pitch.

This record.

It's Moby meets brass Doff, right?

What they've done is they've got a poem which is taken from the words of miners and their families without by an artist.

And they've got music from kind of the colliery bands, which is one of the, you know, those amazing set of, of, of brass bands.

And that's the record.

And yeah, they collected fragments of coal from, I think it's Blackhall Colliery Beach up in Durham to embed in the vinyl.

So if you see it, it looks kind of dusty.

It looks like it's got coal.

It looks, you know, not disappointing in that respect.

And it's, it's kind of So what it is, is it's about, it's a project that's trying to celebrate kind of the history of mining communities and how they kind of the stuff they stood for, like solidarity and workers rights and safety and obviously the famous standing up against government.

But it's also then looking forward and saying, well, actually, these principles of these communities can be applied to help us keep the planet safe.

So kind of applying the principles of the mining communities to saving the planet and bringing those two things together.

So it's a really interesting project.

And this is a really good way of kind of getting everyone talking about it, I think.

And they were selling them and they made 100, they impressed 100 of these things.

And I think maybe only 40 of them were for sale.

So it's quite limited, but you can listen to it on Bank Camp and I really liked it, Yeah.

Last week, once again in the in the lock in last week, we were talking about, well, I was trying to make the case for changing the chart rules for the UK Albums Chart by suggesting that because it's so clogged up with old greatest hits records and albums that have been around for years and years and years and years.

And maybe we take some of those out in a similar way.

There's been a change to the Billboard singles chart rules.

Anyway, as a part of this conversation, I did mention Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is still in the top 30 of the UK album chart.

And they said, I mean, who who's still buying into this?

And I think it was literally a day later when you, you came back and said, oh, I found an article about why Fleetwood Mac are still popular.

What was it?

Where was it from?

Yeah, it's so it was an article in Variety, but it's from a guy who's written a book that's called literally why we still love Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

So he's written a whole book answering your questions and pointed out that yeah, it was the most streamed album from the 20th century on Spotify two years ago.

And and it's over indexing for Generation Z, so young people.

And two things I got from this article.

One point was like, it's the most one of the most famous breakup albums until Lily Allen.

Isn't it like it's a really phrase?

Like was it 3 two or three marriages in the band?

We're just integrating and they recorded this and it's laying it all out.

But apparently young people just see it as like good vibes.

They're like they interviewed some people and like saying, yeah, I put it on when I'm in a good mood.

I probably wouldn't put it on if I was breaking up with a partner.

I'd put it on when I'm in a good mood because it's it's very nice vibes.

So that's interesting.

The kind of the context has changed, but also apparently the thing that that Gen.

Z people respond to is it's not just a band of blokes.

And the fact that it's a mixed gender band where the women were not just singing, they were they were writing the songs.

They were a core creative part of it.

That apparently resonates really strongly as well.

And that's one of the reasons people cite when they say why do you like Rumours?

There must be other albums of that era though.

I guess if you're the if, I suppose it's, you know, it's fulfilling prophecy this.

If you're in the chart, then more people are going to be aware of the records that they're going to listen to it.

So it will carry on being in the chart.

But there must be other records, examples of records that have the same vibe, if you like, from a similar era that you know have disappeared without trace.

But.

Also the algorithm.

The algorithm does it.

So when a lot of young people start listening to something, the algorithm go, well, you're young, you you might, yeah.

But it's, that is kind of like like it's not just about what music sounds like, let's say other music.

It's about what people who are like you demographically listen to.

So if you're a record label with some 70s stuff, you maybe want to think about how do we get this?

How do we get, how do we get the young folks start listening to this?

Because once they start, then the algorithm start kicks into it for you.

And I wonder if that's why we'll see people doing stuff on, for example, TikTok, like marketing campaigns for classic 70s albums on.

You might start seeing a lot of that because that's what can often kick this off.

But at the moment, Fleetwood Mac seem to be the Champions.

OK, and finally this week, why might she want to listen to Thundercats remix of a famous Diana Ross song through A and I quote bone conduction lollipop.

I mean bone conduction lollipop are probably playing the joiners.

What?

What is this?

OK, look, I need to, I need to give you insight into my struggle as journalists.

So I get a lot of press releases, and there's often no good pictures.

Like, it's just, it's just a company logo.

And this press release came with a picture of Thundercat in a lovely mohair cardigan with his hair in bunches sucking a lollipop.

And so I was like, right, whatever this story is, it's important I'm covering it because it's not about the logo.

But this is like a deal.

So it's like a marketing thing really for a mobile game.

Candy Crush Saga, which for for listeners who haven't played it, it's one of the biggest mobile games ever.

I think it's, it came out a long time ago, like 10 years ago, it was the biggest mobile game in the world.

It's still played by 180 million people every month.

And they have this annual music thing where they just have music in the game and they have a thing around it.

And this year, Thundercats remixed upside down by Diana Ross.

So one of the bangers.

Yeah.

And they've made these bone conduction lollipops.

So basically what you do is you put this lollipop in your mouth.

Yeah.

It's got a little vibration speaker in the stick, and it transmits the vibrations through your teeth and jawbone into your ear.

So you hear the song, but it's not playing outside like it sounds.

And I, and I, I actually went on thinking this sounds.

I, I kind of know bone conduction sound is a thing, but is it real?

And it's true that they can be done through your teeth in a lollipop.

And so you hear this remix and you can go onto this website and order one for free.

I don't know what you should have for it after you know 1 missing.

Well, I mean, if nothing else, I mean, that's, that's a party stopper, isn't it?

Right.

Have a go on you.

Don't want to pass it around like you pass your earphones around though, Which no.

No, you.

Have a go on this lollipop.

No, thank you mate.

No, we're out of time for this week.

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