How a 37-year-old song is still Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush is going viral in 2022 for a song she released in 1985. (Photo: Getty Images)
“Stranger Things” season 4 brought big ratings to Netflix, setting the record for the most streamed title in a single week, with viewers watching 7.2 billion minutes from May 30 to June 5.
But that’s not all. “Stranger Things” is also bringing in big numbers for '80s pop star Kate Bush who broke three world records with “Running Up That Hill,” a song she released in 1985. The song played a pivotal role in the Netflix hit, and audiences responded by streaming the heck out of it.
Kate Bush has always enjoyed massive popularity in the UK, her home country. But her music is now becoming more globally popular than ever. Prior to her track’s feature in “Stranger Things,” her highest peak on the Billboard Hot 100 was when “Running Up That Hill” placed at No. 30 in November 1985. But as of June 28, the song had been streamed 465 million times globally and 147 million times in the US alone, showing a 16,867% increase in streams. There are also now 1.8 million TikToks featuring the track.
But streams don’t directly translate to earnings. How much is Kate Bush actually making from her virality?
Everyone wants a slice
Earnings from streaming platforms tend to get a little iffy when record labels are involved, with artists usually drawing the short end of the stick. This is because streaming platforms like Spotify pay out artists based on their cut in the streaming market share.
Spotify has been in hot water before for screwing over musicians, but it actually gets a little more complicated than that. The pipeline doesn’t just go from platform to artist. Often, artists are signed with labels and distributors (sometimes, those are one and the same) who also get a share of the pie. Record labels have a longstanding history of taking advantage of artists, and streaming is one of the newest and most effective ways they’re getting away with that.
Music labels can take as much as 80% of an artist’s revenue from streaming. In fact, Kate Bush herself, along with other icons like Paul McCartney and Sting, signed a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for reform to improve streaming revenues for musicians.
Cheers to indie
Thankfully, unlike most artists today, Kate Bush owns the entire recording copyright for her music, only sharing distribution rights with Warner Music Group. This means that she gets to keep about 80% of the music royalties, and the reported $23 million in streaming royalties that “Running Up That Hill” has made in the past month.
While not all artists are in the same boat, Kate Bush’s virality speaks to many in the industry, and reinforces the new wave of changes in the music industry that favors independent artists and rejects the exploitation of major record labels.
At 63, Kate Bush became the biggest independent artist in the world, proving that music and art transcend time and numbers—and she has made millions of dollars, too, while she was at it.
