Country music’s top digital male artist Jason Aldean has returned to Spotify a year after pulling out of the streaming service over concerns about fair compensation. On Wednesday night, Aldean’s six albums were available for streaming, including his platinum-selling 2014 release, Old Boots, New Dirt. Last November, Aldean removed his music from Spotify, saying he wanted everyone involved in making his music to be paid fairly. He has been named the top male country artist for digital single certifications, counting song downloads and on-demand streams. Earlier this year, he joined artists such as Jay Z, Rihanna and Madonna to promote Tidal, an artist-owned music and video platform. Aldean said in a statement Thursday that he wants to continue to be a part of the discussion inside the music business to figure out how to make streaming music work financially for the creative community. “Ultimately, I’ve heard from my fans all summer on the road and online that they really miss being able to stream my music,” Aldean said. “I definitely want them to be able to find it easily, so we’ve decided to make it available again.”
British director Danny Boyle admits Steve Jobs is a hard sell. The film about the Apple co-founder got disappointing figures when it opened across the U.S., taking only $7.1 million on wide release despite critical acclaim and two successful preview weekends on limited release. Boyle was surprised by the film’s box office numbers but says he’s not interested in taking the easy route when making movies. “You try and make complex films, not simplistic films. You also want to make them highly pleasurable as well,” the 59-year-old said in an interview. “We did brilliantly the first two weekends,” he explained. “Then they went too wide too soon and that’s a mistake. But hindsight experts are always around on Monday mornings.” The movie, starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs and Kate Winslet as his right-hand woman Joanna Hoffman, comes from a script by Aaron Sorkin. It is structured into three acts — each the run-up to launching a new tech product: the Macintosh in 1984, NeXT in 1988 and the iMac in 1998. Considered an award-season heavyweight, the Oscar-winning Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire 2008) is confident the film will find its audience and says he won’t be shocked if Fassbender and Winslet feature high on the trophy circuit season. “I’ve been very lucky to be involved with a lot of very good performances over the years, and this is on a different planet, I think. I mean Fassbender and Winslet — and Seth Rogen is just extraordinary in his playing (Apple engineer Steve) Wozniak — so yes, I’m very, very proud to be associated with them,” he said.