Bruce Hornsby

[hansenkd]

Bruce Hornsby's studio albums, specifically "The Way It Is," seem to have been removed.  Does anybody have any information on when this happened and/or why?  Hornsby is a "serious" type of artist who is very earnest about everything, so I can't say I'm surprised that he would do this, but it is recent and comes at a time when most artists are seeing the value of being on the most popular streaming service.

Can anyone shed light on the subject?  Please no cookie cutter answer, we all know the drill.  I'm wondering if there is specific information on why Hornsby's "The Way It Is" album (and presumably his other studio work--some live albums seem to still be there) was taken down?  FYI, the SONG "The Way It Is" can still be played from what appears to be a legit (original recording) compilation, but if anyone wants "Mandolin Rain" or "Every Little Kiss," they are out of luck.

If there is any information, do we know if there is some sort of work in progress to get the album back?  Thank you.

[hansenkd]

Update:

Bruce Hornsby's OWN website still has Spotify links on the page for this, his most popular album.  He himself has been busy with a tour this month.

Is it possible that this is a case of removal without an artist's knowledge or something otherwise "glitchy" with the data?  The album WAS having album art display issues on Android a few weeks ago, but was still playing on- and offline. 

Something doesn't quite smell right about this--it doesn't seem to make sense that his biggest album would be pulled while leaving live versions and more recent stuff up, especially when it's been up all this time.

  The album URI is spotify:album:243jhZJtyIZtEkrD6vhRLn

EDIT:  OK, this DOES appear to be an artist issue, at least for his 1980s studio albums, as the Scenes from the Southside album (URI spotify:album:0zDbmohO59HiQxr9a2hyHw) is also unavailable.  This has happened maybe in the last week or two, while the artist was on tour.

Any non-cookie-cutter information would be lovely.  Google is yielding nothing.  Just because it's not as big a deal or as big an artist as the Taylor Swift of Prince situations doesn't mean we don't still want some details of what went down when something disappears.  We were never really given a good answer on the Anita Baker thing either...

[rachel88899]

I noticed this too, I have a Best of Bruce Hornsby playlist that I had put together over listening to him a lot... it had 23 songs total... I went to play it yesterday and there were only two songs left 😞 I am devastated. 

[osornios]

Hey @hansenkd

Seems like The Way It Is is only available in Canada. All other countries are shown as 'not available'. The availability of his music on Spotify is up to him and his music label, so I guess only him can tell why he made that decision.

http://open.spotify.com/album/243jhZJtyIZtEkrD6vhRLn

[hansenkd]

Yeah, but this happened VERY recently, he has been touring all summer, and
his website still has Spotify links, so something doesn't smell right. I
would think there would be something online about it, maybe not huge news
stories like Swift and Prince, but there is nothing. His stuff has been
available for a long time, and these albums became unavailable maybe last
week. They are currently licensed through BMG, and their US email just
bounces these days. It would be nice to know. As I said, he is pretty
earnest, so maybe he got a bee in his bonnet and started listening to
Lowrey and his ilk. If that's true, it's pretty ironic for a guy who
almost got sued by the Charles Ives estate for quoting the Concord Sonata
in "Every Little Kiss." He did release a new album this year that does not
appear to be available. Thanks for the update.

[hansenkd · Accepted solution]

UPDATE:

According to the publicist who runs Bruce Hornsby's website, no authorization was made for any removal of Bruce's catalog from Spotify.  They are looking into the situation, and I was told that they will do what they can to make the albums available again as soon as possible.

My guess is that this was some sort of lapse and miscommunication with BMG on some rights renewal or something.  But the word is that Bruce himself most definitely did not authorize any removal of any of his catalog from Spotify.  Let's hope it will reappear soon.  Stay tuned.

[rachel88899]

Excellent news!!! I hope you are right!!! If it comes back I feel that I will have to do a jig. Thank you thank you thank you!!!! 😄 

[rachel88899]

You are incorrect. I agree with Hansenkd, this just happened within the last couple of weeks. I have been listening to his albums on spotify for about a year and this change just occurred.

[rachel88899]

They're back!!! They're back!!! they're all back!!! Wahoooooo!!!! I can die happy. Thank you!

[hansenkd]

For me, all of the The Way It Is album is still greyed out. Scenes from
the Southside is mostly now available, but its biggest hit, "The Valley
Road," is greyed out. Fortunately, the compilations Greatest Radio Hits
and The Essential Bruce Hornsby are now fully functional, and I can access
the songs that I need there.

[rachel88899]

Thanks Hansen, that is weird, The Valley Road is fully functional on my spotify through the album Scenes from the Southside. I am listening to it right now as a test. Its working. With that being said I looked up The Way It Is album and I can access that fully too! Are you a premium member or do you use the free version?

[rachel88899]

Also, listen to my original playlist "Best of Bruce Hornsby Playlist" if you get a chance. I have a feeling you will love it and that we may be soulmates. LOL

[user-removed · Accepted solution]

@hansenkd

Hello:

Might try a few log in and log outs, even a system and/or device reboot as well can help. Sometimes if content is coming back that is missing this process can take a day or two for everything to propagate properly. Double checking the artist page for updated content helps versus any albums saved into playlists, where content has become unavailable and is greyed out for a short while of time.