TESLA's Catalog Surpasses 300 Million Streams On SPOTIFY

California rock veterans TESLA have reached a new milestone on Spotify, surpassing 300 million streams of their catalog on the music streaming service.

TESLA‘s catalog consists of 11 studio albums, along with a handful of live releases and compilations and one acoustic LP.

Back in January 2024, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat, who manages the band and started a company called J Street Entertainment Inc. to help develop young artists, blasted Spotify for the paltry payments the music streaming service pays out to music rightsholders. He told MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio‘s “Words Of Power With Joey DeMaio” podcast: “If you had 500 million streams, so that stream, let’s just say it equates to someone listening to your song. When we were on radio, if we had one play on the radio station, we got four cents. Now for one play, you get one 200 millionth of a cent. But people are still listening to it. So we’re getting raped — badly — and no one wants to say anything about it or do anything about it. It’s just, like, well, this is the new way. So the record companies are involved, and then you have Spotify. And listen, for the huge, huge artists — the LED ZEPPELINs and THE BEATLES and all that stuff — they’re getting paid better than you or I are getting paid, or the kid that’s just starting out at Active Rock and he’s got one song. But when [TESLA‘s] ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ came out, we had all this airplay. We got played and there was a fair wage. Now you don’t, and then people aren’t buying your record, so you’re not getting that buck a record that you used to get for selling it, because no one’s buying it. I mean, vinyl sales are up — yeah, great — but no one’s selling those kind of records, unless you’re Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus or something. But a rock record selling 150,000 copies physically is miraculous. I mean, there’s maybe three artists that can do that.”

Last month, TESLA released the official music video for the electric version of “All About Love”, the title track of the band’s latest six-song EP, “All About Love”.

Released last November, “All About Love” includes four versions of “All About Love” (acoustic, electric, hybrid, live); a live version of “Walk Away”, a concert favorite from “Reel To Real, Vol. 1”; and another new song, “From The Heart”, an instrumental track by guitarist Frank Hannon.

Some fans criticized TESLA for adopting a 1980s-style polished production for “Shock”. The follow-up to June 2014’s “Simplicity” was helmed by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, whose own group is no stranger to slicked-up, glossy-sounding recordings.

In September 2023, TESLA released the official music video for its cover of AEROSMITH‘s “S.O.S. (Too Bad)”. The song is a bonus track on TESLA‘s live album, “Full Throttle Live!”, which arrived in May 2023. The LP includes the band’s “Time To Rock!” single, plus other songs, all recorded in August 2022 at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In September 2021, original TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would “take a little time from the road” to spend with family and friends. He has since been replaced at TESLA‘s gigs and in the recording studio by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

TESLA‘s debut album, 1986’s “Mechanical Resonance”, went platinum on the strength of the hits “Modern Day Cowboy” and “Little Suzi”. The 1989 follow-up album, “The Great Radio Controversy”, produced five hits, including “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)” and “Love Song”, which hit the pop Top Ten.