Hayley on Spotify

[Libby]

Hey, is this new?? Someone tweeted it today, and I'm wondering has this been up for a while, or is it new? Does anyone know? I'm wondering because artists like Sarah Brightman, who have new albums out recently, are posting their new itunes and spotify playlists. Sarah, in particular, hasn't had a new album in over 5 years, so it especially makes sense. Neither has Hayley, and none in the pipeline that we know of... well, there sort of is, but she won't tell us anything about it or if it's ever coming out. But, does this mean things are gearing up? I mean, we thought the new youtube playlist was something exciting, and it's been forever since that already, so I just don't know whether to get excited or not. There are only 47 songs, and although that sounds like a lot, many songs are missing. Not very many Treasure songs, but a lot of Paradiso, Hushabye, and HSJS1. But there are RoD songs, Time to Say Goodbye with Russell Watson, World in Union, and Flood, of all things. Absolutely no Winter Magic songs. Too bad, since it's Christmas time.

Okay, let's try that hyper link thing again:

This Is Hayley Westenra

Update: the link works. So I don't know what happened to my social media page links from the other day.

[Libby]

Okay, I got an answer that's slowing my enthusiasm again:

So, now upon searching for Hayley on Spotify, you can find her different albums, containing all the songs. I'm a little annoyed that Celtic Treasure includes an S on the end, which shouldn't be there.

[cloudbusting.heights]

Yeah, I noticed that spelling error too. I've been listening to Hayley on Spotify for a while now 😀

[Libby]

Yeah, I was really hoping this was something new Hayley was putting out. Disappointed yet again. 😔

I’ve been listening to Hayley on my MP3 player for years, so I certainly don’t need Spotify, but it’s great that it’s out there. 🙂

[spartboi]

Dec 1, 2018 6:23:40 GMT Libby said:

Yeah, I was really hoping this was something new Hayley was putting out. Disappointed yet again. 😔

I’ve been listening to Hayley on my MP3 player for years, so I certainly don’t need Spotify, but it’s great that it’s out there. 🙂

I should show you my music list.... All Hayley... I kid you not I have not listener to anyone else for a good 2 years now since I found Hayley...

[crissyt]

An interesting find, Libby. For a while now I've been reading all the thoughts and comments on here about what Hayley is doing these days. One area of discussion that has interested me has been regarding her record company. She has been with Decca/Universal since "day one" and the relationship was clearly fruitful, so it made sense for her to remain with them. Then came 2013 and Hushabye which was, I get the impression, not as successful as all her previous albums. All will be well between a record company and a contracted artist until the artist's records stop selling. Then it's game-over. Hot bricks spring to mind (drop[ped like one!). My view is that as a result of Hushabye, Hayley and Decca/Universal have parted ways. However in this internet age, if a parting of the ways has occurred, it may be a blessing in disguise. Being an established artist, Hayley has an international presence and fan base, which means direct selling via a website which she could control and via outlets like Spotify should be straightforward. In short, she no longer needs a record company and so can cut out the middle man with the associated positive impact on her personal revenue streams.
In the last year or so she's posted a number of photos from inside studios, so it's been assumed that she's working on new material. I think it's also reasonable to assume that she can, to an extent at least, finance studio time, session musicians and the associated post recording production herself. If she can't, then again, being established, some form of third party funding should be possible. However it may be that without the commercial clout of a big record company, this approach is, per force, somewhat fragmented and this is what is taking the time. Factor in writing time and some other aspects which I will endeavour to cover in a separate post when I get half a moment, and one is looking at years rather than months.
Frustrating, I know, but we know Hayley has new material, so my guess is that something will appear before too long via the web in MP3 format rather than in CD form from Decca/Universal or some other record company. Realistically, the latter is an outdated business model which must surely be severely curtailed by the web in the long term. We in the UK will remember Blockbuster, a high street video rental company that clung on by its fingernails to the inevitable bitter end a year or so ago. What astounded me, apart the fact that it survived so long, was that some investors were persuaded to put a considerable sum of money into it not long before it went under. If I had record company shares, I'd be selling them!

[cloudbusting.heights]

I agree with you. I would not be at all surprised if she were to officially release a song or two as an mp3 before releasing any kind of full album.

Oh, and we had Blockbuster here in the US too; at least on east coast!

[Libby]

We've definitely considered the fact that she may not be with her record company anymore, but I feel like there have been hints to say otherwise, but it's all been so few and far between. At the moment I can't think of anything specific, mostly because nothing has come of whatever it was. Well, there was the time some months ago where all of a sudden on youtube, nearly all her major recordings all appeared on her youtube page. We didn't know if that was her record company or Hayley herself doing that.

However, what you say about what might be happening sounds plausible. It's just disappointing to some of us that her communication with her fans has been terribly lacking.

Blockbuster was all over the US at one time, but it folded here quite a few years ago now. So, apparently, it did better in the UK than here!

[Martin]

Hi Crissyt, your post sums up the situation rather nicely.

[Dave]

Yes, it's a good summary by Crissyt.

Oh, and there is one Blockbuster store left! It's in Bend, Oregon, the last Blockbuster!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45175194

Maybe the Internet's still a bit slow in Bend.

Dave

[Bamafan]

I saw this video a while back on that last Blockbuster store! It’s quite lovely actually Still remeber the one we used to have in my hometown.



-Taylor

[crissyt]

Ref my 10 December post, thanks for all the positive comments.

Another thought has occurred to me since posting that may add weight to the idea. I seem to remember reading somewhere that one of the reasons why Hayley made London her permanent base was to be close to her record company. That rationale dates right back to Pure in 2003 when she was 16 and her family was with her.

If she's no long with Decca/Universal, then there is less reason to remain in London.

I'm tickled pink that there is still a "Blockbuster" left. I can only assume it's now privately owned and can get away with using the old corporate identity because old Blockbuster has ceased trading so there's no one left to sue for unauthorized use of the trademark. If poor internet provision is the reason for its survival, then the bits & bytes must really struggle to squeeze along the damp string in that part of Oregon. In the semi-rural south west of England, there was similar trouble until fibre became available. We upgraded earlier in the year and so I now feel rather smug about out lightning download speed!

[frenchie]

So I have finally broke down and got a free Spotify account a couple weeks ago. Of course, Hayley was one of the very first artists I 'followed' on there. Trying to get ready for when ever this album finally gets released, I will be playing it continuously in my office to try and boost it as much as possible. One other thing I noticed in 'following' Hayley on Spotify is that Pure is not available on the USA platform. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this? Is there a way to get Hayley to maybe ask the record label? Just want everything ready when all the casual fans come back, and she gets (hopefully) a big boost from all the media and new record. I also noticed she is still missing a couple official music videos on her official YouTube channel.

[Joe]

Oct 7, 2019 20:53:24 GMT frenchie said:

So I have finally broke down and got a free Spotify account a couple weeks ago. Of course, Hayley was one of the very first artists I 'followed' on there. Trying to get ready for when ever this album finally gets released, I will be playing it continuously in my office to try and boost it as much as possible. One other thing I noticed in 'following' Hayley on Spotify is that Pure is not available on the USA platform. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this? Is there a way to get Hayley to maybe ask the record label? Just want everything ready when all the casual fans come back, and she gets (hopefully) a big boost from all the media and new record. I also noticed she is still missing a couple official music videos on her official YouTube channel.

I also have a free Spotify account and follow Hayley there.  The “Pure” album must be a recent removal!  In the playlist “This is Hayley Westenra”, the song Dark Waltz is there after Once Upon a Time in the West if looking at the horizontal cd covers. However, Dark Waltz is skipped and the next song Both Sides Now plays! DW is not in the vertical song playlist.  Other songs from Pure on the playlist are playable but the cd cover that appears is “River of Dreams - the Very Best of Hayley Westenra”.  I understand that the playlist is from Spotify themselves and not from a user. 

In looking at YouTube, underneath the music videos in Hayley’s channel, in the albums list, Pure is noticeably absent.

It is possible that users outside the USA can see this missing album!  

[Libby]

I'm guessing Hayley doesn't control anything on spotify at the moment, unless she has a death wish for her singing career. Even if she's not with Decca anymore, couldn't they still have control over that sort of thing? Wouldn't they still own those albums? But then wouldn't Hayley still have some say over her own albums even if her contract with them is up? I don't know what permissions Spotify has to get, but maybe they only have to deal with the record company and not the artist themselves, and Hayley just leaves them to deal with such things, shoddy as their promotion of her has often been.

But we saw that she and the gang were at Capitol Records a couple weeks ago (can you believe that her one month anniversary is already a week away?? ), so things can't be going that terribly for her music-wise. I just wish things would go faster. Maybe we'll get it the beginning of next year? Do you think she'll use the photos from Italy that are on her SM pages? Or do a new one?

There's been some debate about whether or not Hayley would still record her sad songs from before she met Chris, but I think it would be a mistake not to, and not just because I personally want to hear them on record, mind you. Of course I'm still very disappointed that nobody outside of Taiwan has ever heard one of her new songs, Not Alone. I almost forgot what it was called, so that says something (especially for me).
But let's say all the songs she and Chris wrote together are all happy, lovey-dovey songs. Sure, she wants to celebrate that, but I think it's a mistake to sweep the past under the rug as if it never happened. I'm guessing Hayley is not Chris' first love, either. In fact, I seem to remember seeing pics of a former gf on his FB page (which he doesn't appear to use anymore). Also I imagine that Chris would tour with her, and unless she's planning to pretend he's just a friend, fans are bound to get confused. Some of her less diehard fans have already been left confused that she is with someone different than she was seen marrying 6 years ago. Some people won't know the difference, but the ones who have followed her this long know at least a little something about her love life.