Update: We were right! Enya did release an album in 2015. On 20 November Dark Sky Island was released. See my album review here.
Original Story:
My! My! Time Flies! sings Enya on And Winter Came. It is now over 6 years since the release of her latest album. Some artists can afford to wait for years to release new material, and Enya is undoubtedly one of them. But it is a new day in the music business. Today it’s all about streaming, and the CD format is soon nothing but a memory. In order to stay relevant – and revitalize her current catalogue on streaming formats – Enya will need to release a new album sometimes soon.
With over 75 million albums sold Enya is one of the most successful artist in music history – and world’s no. 1 New Age music artist. But the music economy has changed (or collapsed, depending on who you ask) since the release of her latest album, and today the business is mostly about the number of streams and playbacks on Spotify, YouTube and Pandora. No major artist will enjoy being a CD-only artist.
Book of Days
We don’t have exact numbers for Enya on streaming formats, but we can tell that she is doing “just about OK”. And “just about OK” is not good enough for an artist of this format.
From Youtube (click for bigger picture):
From Spotify:
Of course millions of playbacks do not sound bad at all. But in order to have success today you’ll need tracks with several hundred million playbacks alone. A mega selling artist like Enya will need big numbers on all platforms. Hopefully Enya’s numbers on Pandora Radio are better, although these stats are not available to us. If you know the number of streams for other services, please write a comment below.
It must be said that there’s one digital format where Enya has had success – and that’s paid downloads via iTunes. After the release of And Winter Came she was on top of many national iTunes lists for years. But even Apple is moving away from the paid downloads market and into the streaming economy. Enya will have to do the same – sometimes soon.
Some artists can afford to wait for years to release new material, and Enya is undoubtedly one of them.
Therefore it was discouraging to hear that there will be no re-releases of Enya’s music in the near future. It is hard to understand why we will not get streaming only versions of remastered or previously unreleased material. It is not much to ask for, and it is cheap and easy to make for the label.
Enya is still making lots of money, as seen in this article. But the general question is; is Enya going to remain an artist for the CD buying, 40+ years old demography, or is she too going to attract a younger audience who cannot remember ever having played a CD? There’s is of course nothing wrong with her current audience, and the CD format will live for decades more. But something must be done to give her more streams.
Enya still has popular appeal. Here we can mention the Lord of the Rings soundtrack – and The Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo commercial. But still; Enya needs a successful new album in 2015. A tour, or at least a few talk show performances, would also be great.
Waiting for the new album is, to quote Enya on Amarantine, like a Long long journey through the darkness…
Reblogged this on Shaman's Blues.
heres what she should do beforehand…back in the early 2000s when vinyl wasn’t popular, almost all her albums were either cassette or cd, I say she should rerelease all her albums in a box set of vinyls..
YES YES YES!!!! COLOR VINYL PLEASE!!!
Brown for Watermark
Dark Blue for Shepherd moons
Golden for Memory of Trees
Celery Green for A day Without rain
Red for Amarantine
White for And Winter Came
And with bonus tracks, if it’s not too much to ask
I understand that Enya is a deeply private person but it’s as if she disappeared off the face of the earth. Her last update on her website was from 2010!! I just wish she would engage a little bit more with her endearing fans letting us know if indeed she is working on a new album and if it is imminently going to be released sometime in the next year or so….It’s so painful being kept in the dark!!
I doubt she is still alive, since we has’nt heard from her now in 7 years, it’s a bit disappointing, because there are a lot of fans just waiting and waiting and waiting.
Enya doesn’t function in the real world, she once took a WHOLE YEAR on one track perfecting it. When she is ready and satisfied a new album will appear. Leave her alone to get on with the job.
Thank God she doesn’t live in this real world, her music would not be nearly as beautiful if she did.
There is nothing wrong with doing music just for the fans who love it. Not everyone is interested in putting out musical Big Macs to be consumed as fast food on the iPod.
well it is a personal reason to release a new album , with what iv,e heard so far from enya they don’t do the same old same old .to me the quality of voice ,and being its new age, the music is not coming from the ego, a lot of artist are coming from the ego,they do quite well then end up having to do better,it leads to very clever lyrics,its almost like , the rhythm of music is gone and the magic gone, so music coming from that level has ceiling or cap,enya music transcends the ego the personality and the mind, to feeling or just being ,they have done study’s genius mentality comes from also listening to Mozart,so the quality can,t come from the lower ego mind there is a saying its only a fool doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.my reason for enya to put an album out, that they are able to use zen thinking, and truly understand every thing in the universe comes from nothing a very fresh way to get idea,s it has to be where enya meet us fans half way ,ad that enya enjoy what they do ,thats what real fans like to hear and whatch being that they are pure bred they shouldnt need much luck.
I heard a couple years ago that she committed suicide… I didn’t believe that could be true… But now I’m starting to wonder if it is, since she doesn’t show any signs of life.
Goodness I know it would be nice for her label to just say “Hello. Enya is still alive and making music.”…it would help immensely with the never ending wait….
Well for me I look up
To enya mainly the singer she dresses in style. For such a singer to encompass style and grace she has a born with love that u can’t defeat when I look at enyas imagery this is what I see when I look at enyas photo. All I found was grace in sight and sound. All I found was grace in site sound.o enya please fogive me for all post.I was u2 fan for 25 years.once I took up meaditation and yoga. 2009 I couldn’t find my self being relative to u2 anymore now finish spiritual note the mind the great slayer of thee real let the disciple slay the slayer.
Hi to enya well I will start with l have seen your interviews I never. Want to become an unhealthy entrest in your quest for a career and exellence in what u do
honestly . love belongs to nite and day love is such a big word. There.s not enough letters. In the alphabet to express it. They say art is a reflection of life .when it comes to my post comments they are a reflection of your work .if you were tradesman builder your work would be of excellent high standard .that’s all I want make clear and one other thing.if there is any thing us fans can do please let us know because 99 percent of us do care and I it be to know ethiene is a live and kicking and .ethiene imagery is all I found was grace in site and sound all I found was grace in in site and sound waiting for word a sign just to make sure . ethiene is a live and kicking l u
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I feel the need to express good energy some words to consider why a new album. I feel the whole turning a round I feel I.m losing ground I feel it every day.u know it won’t.be easy.its never easy.enya lift me like the sweetest cup.u lift me up don’t u ever stop.u lead us on until the feelings come.and the lights shine.don’t u ever stop. Now if that don’t mean nothing.then some day it should follow thru. Don’t u forget about us.
vorrei presto vedere l’uscita del tuo nuovo cd lo comprerò subito fantastico il tuo nuovo disco e vorrei vedere il tuo cconcerto nella mia citta di matera aspetto risposte ciao Antonio Pranteda