Chris Matthews retires and the record companies make a mint

Chris Matthews left MSNBC abruptly Monday night

Hardball with Chris Matthews has aired on the network since before it was MSNBC. Premiering in 1994, Hardball gameified politics focusing on the horse race. Pivoting with the network to the right and back to the left in recent years.

But in today’s climate Matthews was the proverbial sore thumb on the network.

Courting controversy over on-air comments including likening Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Nevada caucus victory to Nazi Germany overtaking France during World War II. He also asked Elizabeth Warren why she would believe a woman over Michael Bloomberg regarding accusations that the ex-mayor told a pregnant employee to “kill” her unborn child.

Matthews apologized for the nazi comment and on Tuesday he addressed the ill-fit on MSNBC and his future.

As for who will replace Matthews, former Fox News host Shepard Smith is said to be returning to TV this year. Other reports say current contributors Steve Kornacki and Joy Reid are under consideration.

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A new report from Next New Web says the major record labels are making one million dollars an hour. 80 percent of that money came from streaming last year

Some 500 billion songs were streamed to US listeners, generating $908 million, or 8% of the industry’s total music revenues.

Paid subscriptions by far made the most revenue last year, bringing in $6.8 billion for the industry, up by a quarter year to year, and almost two-thirds of all recorded music revenues in the US.

There are 600% more subscribers now than 5 years ago.

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2020/02/27/streaming-million-dollars-per-hour-spotify-warner-sony-universal-revenue/