The sequencing of tracks on an album may have long been subject to artists’ creative muses, but, according to A&R and streaming services decision-makers, the order in which songs appear on a set can have far-reaching effects on an acts’, and labels’, bottom lines, especially in an era of digital music consumption.

Throughout the rock era, an album’s track order has often been based on what has caught an artist’s fancy, shaped by such elements as feel and flow. “I never like to put two happy songs in a row or two of the same kind of sadness in a row,” Taylor Swift explained in the Oct. 27 Billboard cover story about how she decided the order of cuts on her recent Billboard 200 chart-topper “Red.” “It’s just about establishing [a sequence that] sounds like that’s the order of things. It’s a gut-feeling thing.”

In other cases, it’s even simpler; Billy Joel reportedly set the sequence for his 1993 Billboard 200 No. 1 “River of Dreams” based on the order in which he wrote each song (with “Famous Last Words” serving as a logical closer for the album). Read more here.

Buzz Track: Fight

Cara Quici will soon release Fight which is a remake of Beastie Boys “Fight For Your Right” that will come off her new EP. She is a cross between Debbie Harry and Madonna and her name is frequently highlighted in NY’s Page Six. Quici has been featured in a episode of Bravo’s Season 5 “Real Housewives of New York City” where she sang the songs “Do It Now” “Fall” and “Bad Girl”. We will keep you posted with upcoming show dates.
Contact: do@darwinworldmedia.com

The New York Times published an article “‘Thriller’ and the Lessons of the Mega-Super-Album”.

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” turns 30 this year. It is still the biggest-selling album ever, worldwide, by a lot. As is the case with most biggest-evers, actual or perceived (“I Love Lucy,” say, or “Star Wars”), it’s hard to imagine a world in which “Thriller” didn’t exist. And who would want to remember the pre-“Thriller” days anyway, at least the stretch of months right before it was released, which were nasty ones for the music business? To paraphrase Don McLean’s “American Pie,” the year that “Thriller” came out, 1982, was the year the music almost died. Read more here

Buzz Track: Wildfire

Stockholm is a new emerging band to the Orlando indie music arena with influences ranging from The Killers to Coldplay. The’ve opened for Travie McCoy and The Wanted. Check out the latest track Wildfire as well as their previous released track Don’t Stop Now.
Contact: publishing@stockholmband.com

The modern music industry’s version of a four-leaf clover is the diamond-status album. Sure, some releases still reach that vaunted 10 million mark after several years (or in the case of Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory a dozen) on the charts, but it’s an increasingly rare feat.

But in an era when YouTube views, concert ticket sales, magazine covers, endorsement deals and product lines, TV appearances and digital single downloads have become the new measures of an artist’s success, how did Adele pull it off? And is she the last of a dying breed of mega-sellers? Read more