Here are some newer artists with super smooth voices — in no particular order — that I've been digging lately. These talented vocalists span a variety of genres and are definitely on my 'Artists to Watch' list of 2016.

1. Lianne La Havas

Location: London, UK

Genre: Acoustic, Folk

If I had to compare singer/songwriter Lianne La Havas to another artist, I would say Lianne is like an edgier, folksier Corinne Bailey Rae. Check out Lianne's NPR Tiny Desk concert, where you can really experience the beautiful lightness of her vocals.

Listen to her latest album Blood, released in July 2015, on Spotify here.

Must-Listens: Elusive, Tease Me, No Room For Doubt (feat. Willy Mason)

2. Gallant

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Genre: R&B, Soul

Louis Futon's remix of Gallant's "Weight in Gold" was my number one track of 2015, and for a good reason. I was intrigued by Gallant's alluring vocal style and high-pitched falsetto ever since I heard that song for the first time.

Gallant just collaborated with well-known singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens in his ongoing collaborative project "In the Room" — check out Episode 1 here.

Must-Listens: Open Up, Talking In Your Sleep, Jupiter Grayscale

3. Alina Baraz

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Genre: Modern R&B, Downtempo

Alina Baraz's sultry, almost hypnotic vocals — especially with producer Galimatias' lush, vibe-y production — take me to another world. Together, in their collaborative 2015 Urban Flora EP, Alina Baraz and Galimatias create a new kind of R&B.

Below is her song "Down For You" with Ta-ku, who also does an excellent job of capitalizing on the heavenly quality of Alina's sound.

Listen to the Urban Flora EP on SoundCloud here.

Must-Listens: Fantasy, Unfold, Can I

4. George Maple

Location: Sydney, Australia

Genre: Future Pop, Electro-Soul

George Maple's intense, yet introspective vocals create a "Vacant Space" unlike any other artist I know. That is, her raw sound — often supported by echoing electronic synths — is airy and fluid, and always full of musical and emotional tension. I discovered her music from her collaborations with Flume and What So Not.

Her music appears on my playlist featuring dark, future trap bangers, which you can check out here.

See the "Talk Talk" remixes album on Spotify here.

Must-Listens: Talk Talk, Vacant Space, Gemini

5. CYN

Location: Chicago, IL

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Pop

CYN's music is soft, feminine, dreamy and honest — super refreshing amongst a sea of overproduced, over-synthesized pop vocalists. She's already collaborated with producer Galimatias, who I mentioned under Alina Baraz, so I'm excited to what other solo and collaborative projects she has in store for us this year.

Her latest, self-entitled EP was released in 2014. Check it out on SoundCloud here.

Must-Listens: Little Crusader, something, No More Hesitation

6. KHAI

Location: Jefferson City, MO

Genre: Pop, Electronic

I listened to KHAI's "Do You Go Up" endlessly on repeat this past December. His delicate, higher-pitched voice is unique, dynamic and sophisticated, and often accompanied by his own lovely, avant-garde production.

KHAI's If You EP was released in October 2015. Listen to it on SoundCloud here.

Must-Listens: Take (feat. CYN), All is Full of Love, In Void

7. Tora

Location: Byron Bay, Australia

Genre: Chillwave, Indie

While Tora's mellow electronic production is remarkably different — under the genre of new-age chillwave — this underrated, Australian band's three-part vocals also deserve recognition. I'm in love with their unique voices, melodic falsettos and dynamic rhythms, especially in this live performance from Canadian Music Week 2015.

Tora's Eat The Sun EP was released in October 2014. Listen to it on SoundCloud here.

Must-Listens: Jaigantic, Sugar Snap, Calming Her

8. Mothica

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Genre: Indie, Electro-Soul

Evocative yet soothing, Mothica's voice reminds me of that of Lucy Rose, but she an indie twist that pairs perfectly with her own original electronic production.

Check out her latest "gloom pop" Mythic EP, released in November 2015, on SoundCloud here.

Must-Listens: Between Us, Know You Well, Book Of Us

Thanks for reading and listening!
'Like' this post if you'd like to see more Artists to Watch posts.

Opponents of music streaming like Taylor Swift denounce the low royalties of music streaming. But look at Tidal. Despite boasting higher royalty rates to artists, Tidal quickly became a huge flop. As music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz notes, the sad truth is that consumers simply don't care enough about artists' incomes to pay a premium for "high-fidelity" platforms like Tidal.

“[People] love their money more than their favorite artists, never forget it.”

— Bob Lefsetz

The meager royalties of streaming services do raise concerns about fairness and ethics (side note: check out Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's article to gain a better understanding of these payouts). However, I believe that releasing music on these platforms offers some incredibly valuable benefits to artists — both well-known and rising ones — that will enable them to build their musical brands and even help boost sales in the long run.

So, here are the reasons why all artists should embrace music streaming services, whether it's Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, Rhapsody, Deezer, or the next big music streaming startup.

1. The CD industry is dead, and digital album sales are dying.

It's important for artists to understand that music streaming is already king. In 2015, CD sales were down 10 percent. iTunes download sales dove at least 13% in 2014, and digital album sales are also already on their decline. While this trend has been a recurring theme in the music business, it's time for executives and artists to both accept and take advantage of this shift in media landscape.

Meanwhile, streaming music sales are on the rise. In the first half of 2015, streaming nearly doubled in popularity, as it generated 135.2 billion streams over the past year. Unless artists have the level of star power of artists like Adele, streaming is the place to be for them reach the greatest listening audience, especially millennials.

2. Data, data, and more data.

“[You see] the truth about consumption.”

— Steve Berman, VP of Interscope Records

With music streaming, artists gain access to valuable statistics that wouldn't be available to them by just selling CDs and digital downloads. For example, on Spotify, artists gain the ability see which tracks on their album are being listened to the most. And on Pandora's Artist Marketing Platform (AMP), an artists can see how many "station adds," or the number of times listeners choose their artist or song title, they get on Pandora's radio, amongst other useful insights.

These are the kinds of quantitative insights you can get as part of Pandora's Artist Marketing Platform (AMP).

The success of Drake and Future's What a Time to Be Alive mixtape — which was exclusively released on Apple Music in its first week — illustrates the dominance of hip-hop in particular on music streaming services. Executives note that "hip-hop’s younger, mobile-connected audience [is] leading a shift away from downloads." And while R&B and hip-hop albums made up an impressive 26% of all streams during the first eight months of 2015, I believe that other genres will soon follow this listening trend.

With the data provided by streaming services, artists are able to not only track the performance of their albums, but also analyze the audience that listens to their songs.

3. Streaming allows artists to boost engagement with their fans.

Here's an example of how, with the help of social media, one of my favorite bands Foster the People increases engagement with their fans and promotes their music via Spotify.

As I explained in my article on discovering music on Spotify, artists can post their own Artist Playlists on their Spotify profiles. As a listener myself, I particularly appreciate artists who do this, as it shows that they value any connection they can make with their fans, even if it just means that listeners are able to follow their playlists. Giving listeners a peek into what kind of music influences their favorite artist's music, this feature is a real treat.

Also, artists can let their followers to see what song they're listening to in real-time with Spotify's Friend Feed feature (also discussed in my previous article), which I believe adds another more human dimension to my favorite artists.

4. People love sharing music online.

It's pretty clear that sharing music via music streaming services with a link is significantly easier than burning a song on a CD and physically handing it to them (although the latter will certainly feel more personal).

Streaming services like Spotify and SoundCloud allowing listeners to share songs via a URL and embed codes, as I often do on my blog. In this way, making music available via streaming increases the chances of word-of-mouth advertising, aka free advertising.

Plus Facebook's Music Stories feature — which allows Facebook users to share 30-second clips directly on their mobile and desktop news feeds — is still in its early days, which means there's much room for growth in its capabilities.

5. Being on a popular playlist can make an artist's music go viral.

"Waves" made the number one spot on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in November of 2014. Streaming is what helped paved the way to this US chart-topper.

“Platforms like Spotify definitely helped spread the music way before it even hit the radio in a lot of countries.”

— Mr. Probz

The graph above was taken from Spotify's case study on the anatomy of this hit. As you can see, the appearance of European hit "Waves" on curated playlists, rather than the search function, propelled the song's success in the US. And what is most interesting is that the song started to gain popularity on Spotify three months before even airing on on the radio.

6. Music streaming plays count towards spots on the music charts in the UK.

According to The Guardian, a number of UK bands like Arctic Monkeys streams "very well" on Spotify.

In February 2015, the official UK singles chart announced that it would count 100 streams on sites like Spotify.

I wouldn't be surprised if the US charts decide to follow in their footsteps.

7. Increased promotional capabilities.

In November 2015, Spotify partnered with music ticketing and calendar service Songkick. Together, they made it easier than ever for listeners to view concerts personalized to their taste and purchase tickets seamlessly through Spotify's Concerts feature and the Songkick app. This is a game-changing feature, as concert tours are the main source of artists' income in the end.

I predict that in 2016, new capabilities like the ability to sell merchandise via streaming services will be available to artists.

8. Streaming makes an artist's music incredibly accessible.

Bob Lefsetz recently criticized Adele for withholding her latest, best-selling album 25 from Spotify and Apple Music, which is exactly what Taylor Swift did. And I agree.

The more you allow the public to listen to your music, the better. If available through multiple channels, an artist's music will — by definition — gain more exposure. We've entered a new digital era where innovations like the cloud and streaming services enable the world to easily access their information and media . The conviction that artists must go against the grain, in my opinion, is just a decision to be behind the times.

Ultimately,

“You want to be everywhere all the time.”

— Bob Lefsetz

The Bottom Line: As streaming services are increasingly becoming the hub of music consumption for listeners, they should also be the hub of music sales for artists.

With streaming, consumers gain increased music listening, discovery and experience capabilities, while artists gain the data and features that are now necessary to heighten their reach, and ultimately, their revenues.