Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Where are the women? USA Today pointed out a surprising gender trend on the charts: it’s been a whole year since a female-fronted track held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s a surprising result given how many women are wildly popular among listeners.
Updated Spotify desktop app display: Spotify has updated its desktop to give a little extra real estate to video and podcasts in its user interface. Podcasts will now be listed alongside features such as Daily Mix under the “Your Library” section of the desktop app’s menu bar. In certain markets, Video will also get that display treatment, the company told Music Ally.
New music…Thursdays? The music industry shifted to Fridays as date for new music releases, but Billboard reports that some artists are finding wiggle room in that rule. “It’s a little bit less about the chart game, a little bit more about the global reach game,” said Zack Gershen, executive vice president at mTheory, a digital consultancy that helped Major Lazer release a new single on a Thursday to a strong streaming result.