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Pink 🎀, Clink 🥃, and ‘Flowers’ Causing Miley a Stink 🥀

The track 'Flowers' has come under fire for being a little too similar to another song - but could you guess what that song is?

September 20, 2024 • Reading Time: 11 minutes

Serving a fresh (virtual) coffee to all subscribers today ☕ (that is now over 7,000 cups a week 🎉) - make yourself at home. 

A huge 👋 to all our new subscribers; we're happy to have you on board!

Housekeeping: Links in the post may be affiliate links, but we only include services or products we love, use, or think are helpful to our readers. 🫶🏻

❓This week's Question: How many streams did Pink Friday 2 get in its first week?

This issue:

Setapp Takes EU App Market by Storm  

For those who keep up to date with app news in the EU or software development – you may know that Setapp just opened its BETA to the public. 

While that is very cool, FreeYourMusic makes the 50+ app bundle even more interesting.  

Many people think if they switch music streaming services, they will lose playlists. FreeYourMusic is the solution. The app copies playlists for you, so you can transfer between major music streaming services. It’s packed with features like cloud back-up, song order preservation, and one-button song rematch.  

For industry pros, FreeYourMusic is a savvy app simplifying playlist management thanks to its auto-sync feature. For music lovers, it's a smart and cost-effective way to manage playlists and music libraries.  

FreeYourMusic is the ideal software to join Setapp’s stacks of productivity and quality-of-life apps.   

Setapp desktop has been available for a while now. The new Digital Marketing Act (DMA) means Setapp can now offer their curated mobile app selection as a complete alternative to the Apple App Store.  

Subscribers can access 50+ curated apps, for a monthly payment. Apps like ClearVPN, Ochi focus, Reading Tracker, AdLock, BusyCal and Awesome Habits Tracker. 

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“We have a really good track record in distributing apps in the desktop space. Now we have to replicate and apply that experience to the iOS space in the EU,” Yaroslav Stepanenko, director of marketing, said. 

Exciting stuff! 

💡Get access and enjoy a 7-day free trial: 👉 The EU App Store Alternative - Setapp

💡Get FreeYourMusic subscription separately: 👉 FreeYourMusic

Whiskey Double for Shaboozey! 

We love it when our previous trends and rising genre mentions come to fruition. In our first issue, we covered the rise of Country Music.   

And now? The music world is alight with talk of Post Malone’s country album “F1-Trillion,” the CMAs, and Shaboozey.  As Lainey Wilson recently sang – Country's Cool Again.  

Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit a rare milestone, by holding onto the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for an impressive 10th week.   

Not only is it 2024’s longest chart-topper, but it also joins an elite group. Only 45 tracks in 66 years have pulled off double-digit weeks at the top of the Hot 100s.  

That’s a feat only 4% of all No. 1 hits have managed.    

So, what do the streaming figures look like? "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" flexes some serious muscle. The track tallied an impressive 76.8 million radio airplay impressions, 29.3 million streams, and 10,000 sales in the U.S. from Sept. 6th-12th.  

And the excitement doesn't stop there. Even more streams came rolling in with the announcement of a CMA nomination.

Someone pour him up a double shot of whiskey! 

Keep Your Tween Out of Your Wrapped

Image created with Canva Pro photo [edited]

Parents of music-loving tweens know all too well the battle between protecting them from explicit content, while still allowing them to explore their music tastes. Well, that war may be over thanks to Spotify’s new parental control settings. It differs from the automatically severely restricted Spotify Kids app.  

Spotify is testing a new feature: “Managed accounts,” allowing parents to make decisions about the music their under 13s listen to.  

Both tweens and parents appreciate the compromise this feature provides. Since unlike the regular Spotify Kids account, parents can choose specific artists, videos, Canvas, and explicitly marked content. 

It doesn’t stop there either. A grumble many parents have is ending up with their child’s music on their Spotify Wrapped. Usually having a bunch of tween-tastic music overloading their end-of-year playlist (TikTok remixes anyone?). 

Spotify wrote: 

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"The managed account is also welcome news for parents and guardians who do not want their recommendations getting mixed up with the latest tween tunes—each account under the plan will have separate recommendations, and a young listener’s musical favorites won’t feed into the plan manager’s annual Wrapped results," when announcing their new feature. 

The new feature is being piloted in Denmark, New Zealand, and Sweden. But, if managed accounts prove to be a big success, they’re likely to become built-in for premium accounts. 

So, parents, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief!  

With Spotify’s new managed accounts, you can keep your Wrapped playlists free from tween takeovers, while still letting your children safely explore their own music tastes. 

A win-win for both generations of music lovers. 

No More Flowers for Miley 

Image created with Miley Cyrus' Photo [edited]

Miley Cyrus is being sued over her massive hit “Flowers”. From the start, it is essential to note that Bruno Mars is not directly named as a plaintiff in the suit.   

The suit was filed on Monday 16th of September, stating that ‘Flowers copied portions of Bruno Mars' song When I Was Your Man.’  

Tempo Music Investments stated, in the filing, that “Flowers uses unauthorized “exploitation” of the song”.  

Here is some of the claim:  

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“Any fan of Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man knows that Miley Cyrus’s Flowers did not achieve all of that success on its own. Flowers duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements of When I Was Your Man, including the melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse, the connecting bass line, certain bars of the chorus, certain theatrical music elements, lyric elements, and specific chord progressions.”  

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“It is undeniable based on the combination and number of similarities between the two recordings that Flowers would not exist without When I Was Your Man. With Flowers, Cyrus, Hein and Pollack have created a derivative work of When I Was Your Man without authorisation.” 

Let’s add some context to this with streaming figures. The release of Flowers gave Miley an overall 65% rise in her streamed music. The first week of release she saw 52.6 million streams, 70,000 digital song sales, and a HUGE 33.5 million radio airplay impressions.  

A year ago, Reddit users commented on how similar the songs are, and in fact the lyrics sounded like When I Was Your Man was the inspiration.  

Bruno Mars was never credited.  

According to data from the 17th of September 2024: 

  • When I Was Your Man has 2,237,175 daily streams and 2,261,033,389 total on Spotify.  

  • Flowers has 1,248,750 daily and 2,197,538,143 total on Spotify. (Streaming data Kworb)

Considering Flowers was release in 2023, and When I Was Your Man in 2012 – the total streams are staggeringly close. If it is found that Bruno’s song was a direct inspiration for Flowers, 11 years is a long time without getting credit for an award-winning song.

💡Curious to know how similar they sound? Here: 👉Flowers and When I Was Your Man

Pink Friday 2 Deluxe Gets Cancelled

Image created with Nicky Minaj's Photo Credit [edited]

But don’t worry, Pink Friday 3 is on the way. Nicki Minaj is a rapper known for being open with her fans – and she announced that her recent studio work is too iconic to be slipped into a DELUXE version. 

Instead, she is giving fans a whole new release.    

In her tweet, she said:   

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"Last night, the songs I recorded were just way too iconic. I love you guys so much. You know that. I know you do. I’ll still give you something leading up to the announcement, so no worries,".  

Pink Friday 2 was such a huge success; in the first week alone, it got a massive 170 million streams.  

The iconic album gave Nicki the highest number of streams in her career. She also scooped most successful female rap album in the 2020s, and female R&B/Hip-Hop album (2023). 

Pink Friday 3, according to Nicki, will be packed with songs that mean something to her and be a perfect follow-up to Pink Friday 2.  

And, true to form, the 🎀 BARBZ 🎀 are ready! 

🎀Nicki’s Tweet: 👉 Nicki Minaj Pink Friday 3 Announcement 🎀 

✔️Answer: 170 million.

Let us know in the comments if you got it right. ⬇️

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