‘Heat Waves,’ the leading single from Glass Animal’s 2020 album ‘Dreamland,’ has been voted number one by Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown, the results of which were announced last night. Announcing the news on their Instagram feed, Glass Animals acknowledge the ‘special place in our hearts,’ that Australia always has and this accolade by the Australian radio station Triple J has only increased this warmth of feeling. The band also express their regret that they were unable to join in the countdown parties which took place in Australia due to the UK’s ongoing national lockdown and crisis over coronavirus.
Despite only reaching number 43 on the UK singles charts, ‘Heat Waves,’ has been a big success for Glass Animals amongst their niche and loyal following in the UK and in their more mainstream audience worldwide. As well as their hottest 100 success the song’s international popularity is reflected in their streaming figures online, with the song’s official video clocking 8.6 million views on Youtube and the lyric video not far behind on 6.5 million. As well as this, the other big news the band announced yesterday was the passing of the 100 million streams milestone for the song on Spotify.
The announcement that ‘Heat Waves,’ had surpassed 100 million streams, in fact reaching a total of 100,215,480 at the time of announcement, was accompanied by another emotive caption from the band. Frontman Dave Bayley wrote to express his disbelief at how the song had been transported from rough demo’s and late night vocal recordings to an international success. This achievement certainly goes some way to endorsing the value of online streaming platforms in giving a voice to more alternative bands and artists which don’t often get deserved recognition through the conventional charts system.
While the streaming model certainly has its flaws, with low royalty payments per stream being the main obstacle for smaller niche or emerging artists, the loosening of the hold on the industry’s creatives from the conventional gatekeepers has definitely gone some way to democratising the industry. For Glass Animals, the system has worked in their favour, their compatibility with an internet-based streaming first audience demographic has meant that they have been able to total up enough streams to equate to a healthy year’s income on one track alone. However with label’s continuing to make deductions from royalties even for streaming rights, there is still some way to go is musicians are to truly start receiving the money they deserve for all their hard work.
Despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the UK, there is still some hope for the future of live music in the UK. Although Glastonbury may have been cancelled this year, Glass Animals for one are pressing ahead with live dates scheduled for the summer of 2021. Fans of the band and of any British artists can only hope and pray that the situation is brought under control in time. UK dates are as follows:
16/05/2021 – O2 Academy – Birmingham
19/05 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester
21/05 – O2 Academy – Leeds
23/05 – Rock City – Nottingham
25/05 – O2 Academy – Bristol
26/05 – Alexandra Palace – London
