If you’re interested in hearing Bang 3, the latest mixtape from popular rapper Chief Keef, you’re not going to find it on iTunes. It’s also not possible to stream these new songs via Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, nor any other subscription-based music service. Don’t even waste your time driving to the nearest Best Buy; you definitely won’t find Bang 3 there either.
Previously scheduled for a mid-August release, Chief Keef’s Bang 3 can primarily be heard right now at Audiomack, a self-described “social music platform” that allows creators, record labels, and promoters to share their music for free with listeners. Intended to provide a corrective to the murky network of questionable torrent hubs and download zones, the New York City based company was founded in 2012 and launched an iOS app version in November of last year. Registered users can load their music to the site, offer unlimited streams and downloads to listeners, and personalize their pages with social media buttons and links offsite.
Though it scarcely comes up in the ongoing business conversations around streaming music, Audiomack reportedly boasts more than 7 million unique users each month, with registered members and non-members visiting to hear the latest in hip-hop and electronic music. While those figures seem light compared to a powerhouse like SoundCloud, the service nonetheless scores platform exclusives like Bang 3 and counts important tastemaking record labels like Fool’s Gold and Stones Throw among its contributing accounts. The website recently hosted Trap Symphony, a video series that paired Atlanta rap group Migos with classically trained musicians for orchestral arrangements of their music. The audio files were also made available for free download through an Audiomack page controlled by 300 Entertainment, the company run by music business veterans Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles and Todd Moscowitz.
Mixtape cover artwork for Chief Keef's 'Bang 3' (Courtesy of Audiomack / FilmOn Music)
Part of Audiomack’s appeal to artists and companies alike no doubt comes from its analytics, presented to contributors in a dashboard view of listener engagement measured over time. Compared with leading mixtape websites like DatPiff and LiveMixtapes, which utilize such overt monetization methods as banner advertising and videos with embedded CAPTCHA codes, it favors a more streamlined design and clean user interface, coupled with some powerful audience data tools running in the background.
The battleground for streaming supremacy finds popular recording artists like Prince, Taylor Swift, and Neil Young publicly taking sides with or against the major players in this competitive segment of the music business. While Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal duke it out in their subscription-centric main event, SoundCloud remains the one to beat on the undercard. Still, the popular platform’s growing pains have led to some fairly negative sentiments from its contributors surrounding overly aggressive takedowns that frequently ensnare legitimate copyright holders. Even still, these anti-piracy efforts haven’t insulated the company from the looming threat of legal action, which seems increasingly more susceptible to a major infringement lawsuit. Furthermore, rumors around monetization concerns and subscription charges have left many of the artists and labels in SoundCloud’s content base eyeing alternatives. While Audiomack lacks the name recognition and overall brand awareness, high profile and fully sanctioned features involving known quantities like Chief Keef and Migos undeniably help that cause.
With Bang 3 clocking more than half a million streams since going live over the weekend, Chief Keef’s Audiomack-first strategy seems a mutually beneficial success. Those who wish to purchase Bang 3 in download format can do so via a link on the mixtape’s page that goes to an eCommerce site from FilmOn Networks, running on the Shopify platform. While it’s likely this music may end up available on iTunes or Google Play in due time, as is often the case with Chief Keef’s projects, for now Audiomack remains the primary beneficiary of a desirable exclusive from a well-known artist at an advantageous time.
