'SCOPING OUT THE POST-HALFTIME ACTION

Team Interscope is celebrating some big lifts post-Super Bowl, as the Dr. Dre-led halftime all-star team scores significant yardage on the streaming and sales fields.

Vice Chairman Steve Berman ran point on this game plan from the Interscope side, coordinating with producers Roc Nation (led by Desiree Perez), the NFL and major partners. It’s a particularly sweet milestone for Berman, who’s been at the label since these hip-hop classics first dropped. Chief Revenue Officer/Global Head of Streaming Gary Kelly, meanwhile, showed considerable hustle in the months leading up to the big game, interfacing with DSPs and the international team to ensure a truly global event.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding: Catalog streams were up 63% for all performers on Monday, with Dre and Eminem leading (and 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” scoring points) and significant boosts for the late, great 2Pac and latter-day hip-hop luminary Kendrick Lamar. 10 cuts from halftime stars are in the Spotify Top 200, seven of those by Em. What’s more, Interscope rap (particularly Em and Dre) got a mega-bump on the U.K. album and singles charts, indicating that as far as the aforementioned “truly global event” is concerned, it was mission accomplished.

Track sales at iTunes went crazy immediately following the big show, spiking about 400%. Four of the Top 5 and six of the Top 10 songs at the download emporium are by halftime performers.

Those stats are impressive, of course, but the gestalt of all this shouldn’t get lost in the details: Consumers—particularly, we believe, young streaming-service regulars—are in full-on discovery mode as regards these titans of hip-hop, and this catalog is not a momentary fascination; we expect the tail of this comet to be very long indeed.

Interscope, UMe and Spotify collaborated on a playlist, GOLD SCHOOL, that highlighted the ‘scope’s role in the parade of hits that thundered through the halftime hullaballoo. The set, which appears below, makes a strong case for Interscope as a foundational hip-hop brand to younger fans, who didn’t witness all this the first time around. Check it out.