Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Spotify exec on data-driven marketing: Jeff Rossi, global director of business marketing at Spotify, spoke at a recent event about using data for better marketing, particularly to the coveted millennial listeners. “There’s so many nuances to who these people are and how they’re connecting with each other, how they want to be connected with brands,” he said. “Millennials are not identified by one cluster of traits.”
Behind the scenes with Coloring Book’s success: Chance the Rapper’s album Coloring Book wound up being a major get for Apple Music, becoming the first streaming-only release to chart in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Billboard interviewed the rapper’s manager, Pat Corcoran, about working with Chance and the journey to releasing the latest album. “It’s not about the music being free,” Chance the Rapper said of his approach. “It’s about how it is displayed and made accessible and about artistic power.”
Spotify as SoundCloud suitor? We’ve heard that SoundCloud is interested in the option of a sale, but the online audio company has allegedly been having trouble finding a buyer. Business Insider Nordic picked up an interview with Spotify’s Daniel Ek where he poke about wanting Spotify’s long-term plan to include finding more ways for artists and listeners to connect. Given SoundCloud’s expertise with that topic, could that make it a match for SoundCloud? It does make for a good headline, but still much too little info to really make that leap.