"I find it interesting you've got Elvis Presley, you've got The Beatles," says Marie Knowles, SoundExchange's vice president of communication. "They're among the most listened to on this new platform. These are iconic rock acts, and they've got staying power."
Satellite radio appears to have a particularly heavy influence on the SoundExchange rankings. The top three acts — Presley, Springsteen and Pearl Jam – all have dedicated channels on Sirius XM, as does the Grateful Dead.
SoundExchange, founded in 2003, collects royalty payments for artists and rights holders from the digital music services, which include satellite radio and streaming television services like Music Choice. Internet radio stations such as Pandora and iHeartRadio, as well as Internet music sites like Last.fm, comprise the majority of the services the organization licenses. The organization's payments are calculated based on how many times the organization receives reports that a user actually listened to a particular track. SoundExchange does not license on-demand services like YouTube and Spotify, where listeners choose to play specific tracks.
The Top 10 digitally streamed artists, for 2003 to 2013.
- Elvis Presley
- Bruce Springsteen
- Pearl Jam
- Rihanna
- Drake
- Usher
- Lil Wayne
- The Beatles
- Taylor Swift
- Grateful Dead
(EPE / USA Today)