- I was never intentionally really thinking about,

I wanna break the system.

Like I just, for me it's just like,

I was feeling very creative

and wanted to release my music rapidly

and when I wanted.

Without streaming it would be so difficult

to be able to do that.

- [Female Narrator] We all know streaming

is changing the way we listen to music

but it's also changing how artists release music.

Charli XCX is a singer and songwriter,

known for hits like Boom Clap,

("Boom, clap").

Boys,

("I was busy dreaming about boys".)

and "1999" with Troye Sivan.

("I just wanna go back, back to 1999").

She's known to release music however and whenever she wants.

Often with little warning.

Which would've been unthinkable before streaming.

Now artist can instantly put their music online

but this also means they have to find ways

to stand out among the millions of songs at our fingertips.

As a result,

the idea of what an album is has completely changed.

(upbeat music)

- I wanna release music when I feel like it

and how I want to.

And I find that particularly major labels,

who have like a very like strict structure

of how they want artist to release music.

That just doesn't really work for me.

And I don't think, especially now,

it doesn't really work for my fans.

- What do you mean by that?

- Well, I think fans are hungry for content

and for music from their favorite artists.

And there's so much out there at the moment, you know?

They can get whatever they want all the time.

So it's very, everything's very like rapidly digested

and people want more.

So, yeah everything moves so much quicker now.

- But first, let's take a step back.

Technology has always dictated how artist release music.

The flat record was commercialized in the 1890's

and for decades, singles were popular

because early kinds of records could only hold about

three minutes of audio.

Around the 1950's, the LP was introduced

Which could hold up to 52 minutes of audio

and the album, as we know it was born.

The traditional album lasted for decades,

continuing with the cassette and then the CD,

all the way until the 2000's,

when digital services like iTunes popped up.

This let people pick and choose

what songs they wanted to buy from albums,

ushering the singles market back.

Now, with the rise of streaming services,

how artists release music,

whether it's singles, mixed tapes, or albums,

has dramatically changed once again.

(relaxed music)

- Traditional album cycle is,

you put out a single,

maybe a second single,

if you're crazy you'll put a third single out

before an album comes out.

As a way of sort of teasing

the larger product that is to arrive.

- What are you seeing now that's different from that?

- I think the best way of putting it would be that sort of

waterfall method, where artist are putting out single,

single, more singles, and maybe a single every month,

that maybe would lead into an EP or an album

and sometimes it will take years.

- And this waterfall strategy is used by tons of big artists

like The Chain Smokers, Bebe Rexha and Billie Eilish.

- I've heard that term for like three or four years now

and its like whenever I go to a meeting with my label

and they'd be like,

yeah you know we've been thinking about this new strategy

its called the waterfall strategy.

You drop one song and then three months later

you drop another one and then three months later

you drop another one and that's the waterfall.

I'm like wow okay, every body got paid today great.

(laughing) Like its just,

its just, that's just dropping songs.

- What is the difference to you

between a mix tape and an album?

- Literally nothing (laughing)

the ones recently that I did

like "Number 1 Angel" and "Pop 2"

I called them mixed tapes

because then my label felt more relaxed about them.

Because I think for a major label,

we're making an album, then we're putting it out

there's expectations like we want it to hit this, this, this

like blah, blah, blah whatever.

And so like for me the mix tape thing like,

I just wanted to like bang bang

like two albums in one year, like lets go.

- [Zane Lowe] Artists are putting out

more and more individual songs because you can.

You don't have to wait around anymore,

get into a cue, wait for a record label

or some company to tell you its your turn up to bat.

I think you're seeing younger artists coming up

who were raised in a free space

using things like Sound Cloud to a degree,

watching iTunes democratize the release of songs

and now looking at streaming services and go well,

I can fill this with as much or as little music

as I want and I just want to be creative all the time.

I don't necessarily want to wait.

- [Female Narrator] Charli has a new album

and in the five months leading up to it

released the four stand alone singles;

"Flash Pose", "XXXTC", "Spicy" and "Dream Glow".

As well as six songs from the album

including the hit "Blame It On Your Love".

Which roughly breaks down to a single every twelve days.

(techno music)

- I think streaming really lends itself

to artists being artists,

streaming is determined by the user right

the person using the platform

so they can click on Billie Eilish

and stream her as much as possible

and they can also like go to her Instagram account

and like work out pretty quickly

that she's like a very unique and cool person

and its driven by like the kids

and the people who are listening to her music.

Which I think is really good for pop music and for culture

because its not like a bunch of like white males

at radio stations and record labels deciding

like what the general public should listen too.

- The boundary between

can people get my work could not be lower right?

Its at the lowest point in history.

We could make a track right now

and we could go put it on the internet

we could get it on Spotify almost immediately,

that's not the problem, the problem is

how do you get peoples attention once its out there?

How am I going to be noticed in that crowd

of music that's being released every single Friday?

There's like this tension

between the business of music and the artistry of music.

There's I think also a lot of people crying wolf

of like music is over

because of this new streaming economy,

songs are only going to be

one minute and twenty five seconds long,

they're not going to be meaningful.

But the thing about attention

is that people get bored of fads,

they get get bored of things that are just pure tricks.

You ultimately have to

grab someones attention and sustain it.

- How do you think streaming

has changed the way people write music?

- Oh extensively.

I've heard from multiple song writers

that they are actually thinking about

the song structure differently

because of how they are going to get paid

via song streaming.

(upbeat music)

- [Female Narrator] Which means,

streaming isn't just changing the album,

its changing songs.

- [Charlie] Like if its not for me

and if I'm writing like a song

that is for another big pop artist,

that's where I get really into my commercial zone.

So I want to play all the games

and I want this song to be huge,

be the perfect little package that will make it

as most maximally appealing to every body.

- So what are some of those tricks that you use

to make sure that the skip rate is as low as possible?

- Like chords within the first thirty seconds,

no like weird like self indulgent intro

which basically are on all the songs I put on my album.

Hook at the top, in the intro,

maybe even start with the chorus.

I think that radio songs should be like two minutes twenty,

like get in and get out

like everybody just get on with your life.

- So you just try to front load

as many of the catchy bits as possible?

- I think so.

The formula and tricks I think are used

and paid attention too so much in the streaming climate

because its all about like making sure

the person doesn't change the song.

Now its like all about like did you like grab them

in that first five seconds.

- Do you think that what you're doing

represents more what people will be doing in the future?

- I kind of think its the norm now,

I mean like Ariana Grande is one of the most

huge artists in the world

and to me it at least

it felt like she is like doing what she wants.

She just like put out an album

and then like straight away dropped like "Thank You, Next"

and I think that's happening a lot more now.

I think the new landscape really

like lends itself to artists who are unique

and have a different language

and a very specific vision

in that sense I think streaming is good

because it just opens everything up

and every thing becomes much more cross pollinated

and there's for so many you know genres

and its not about radio which is great

and so I think that's a good thing,

I think that's great.

(electronic music)

- [Female Narrator] Thanks for watching

this video is brought to you by

"Loft Hotels" different by design.

For more videos like this,

like and subscribe.

Before we talk about anything else,

one thing that I'm dying to know about

is why you call yourself Charlie XCX.

- It was just my MSN screen name when I was younger

and then I would just make MP3's and put them on MySpace

and I didn't have a stage name

so I just panicked and used my MSN screen name and

- [Woman With Pink Hair] The rest is history.

- The rest is history yeah.

- God you're such a child of the internet.

- Yeah (laughing)

- An MSN screen name and then putting it up on MySpace.