As Spotify’s music streaming platform continues to shape the music industry, a new book raises questions about its impact on artists and listeners alike. Can anyone escape the algorithmic trap of Spotify?
Spotify has become an integral part of our music consumption habits, but at what cost? A new book skewers the platform’s impact on music, and two Guardian music writers spent a week assessing its limits.
Music streaming has revolutionized the way people consume music.
According to a report, there are over 600 million music streaming users worldwide.
The most popular music streaming platforms include Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
These platforms offer users access to millions of songs, playlists, and radio stations.
Music streaming has also led to an increase in music discovery, with many users discovering new artists and genres through recommendations and algorithms.
The Algorithmic Trap
For Laura Snapes, deputy music editor, giving up Spotify for a week was a straightforward task. However, her counterpart, Alexis Petridis, chief rock and pop critic, faced a much more daunting challenge: only listening to Spotify-created playlists and the songs it suggested based on his listening history.
Alexis’s experience highlighted the algorithm’s struggle to find meaningful connections between different music genres and artists. The AI DJ kept suggesting ‘like a laxative’ Galaxie 500, which sounded, and he found it inherently creepy, both the voice and the narrow recommendations based on his own taste.
Spotify's algorithm uses a combination of user behavior, listening habits, and music characteristics to create personalized playlists.
It analyzes factors such as genre, tempo, and mood to recommend songs.
The algorithm also takes into account the popularity of artists and tracks, as well as user engagement metrics like likes, skips, and shares.
Spotify's algorithm updates in real-time, ensuring that users receive fresh recommendations based on their evolving tastes.
The Great Breadth vs. Human Taste
Laura’s playlist experience was a stark contrast to Alexis’s. She subscribed to music newsletters and discovered an album by Swedish composer ‘Hugo Randulv’ , which she loved. However, when she tried Spotify’s ‘made for you’ playlists, such as the reggae mix featuring folk legends ‘Shirley and Dolly Collins’, it was like they were trying to reduce music down to ‘vibes‘, stripping away historical context.
Spotify playlists have become a crucial component of music streaming.
With over 200 million tracks, users can discover new music through personalized and curated playlists.
The platform's algorithm creates playlists based on user listening habits, genres, and moods.
Popular playlist types include Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and Daily Mix.
These playlists are updated regularly, ensuring users always have access to fresh music.
According to Spotify, 75% of users listen to playlists daily.
The Impact on Artists
The competition markers of pop have been brought to bear on all types of music due to Spotify. This forces artists into a world where they need to look like ‘Sam Fender’ or ‘Ed Sheeran‘ to get noticed. The platform’s idea of ambient is closer to ‘perfect fit content‘ (PFC), which commissions muzak-style farms to produce chilled-out music for lean-back playlists.
The jazz thing is the ultimate extension of this trend, with playlists featuring mostly commissioned music that stops listeners from being exposed to underground artists. ‘Ezra Collective’s’ success highlights what can happen when listeners are exposed to something exciting and underground.
A Disconnection in People’s Minds
Alexis doesn’t think there’s a sense of compunction about Spotify’s treatment of artists, despite knowing they don’t get paid well. Most people see big stars like ‘Sabrina Carpenter‘ or the Weeknd doing well, but not realizing that smaller artists are struggling.
The demonetization of songs with fewer than 1,000 plays also infuriates Laura. She thinks that a record can be impactful but only needs to be listened to twice, unlike her own love for extreme electronics that she won’t listen to over and over again.
A Future Without Streaming?
“Anohni” makes a good point about the impact of streaming on music. However, alternatives like public libraries in the US with streaming platforms for local musicians seem like a lovely idea but may not be viable in the long run.
The most likely outcome is that Spotify will move on to a different product, and other solutions will have to be found. Laura’s attachment to her mp3s stems from this possibility, fearing that everything could disappear if Spotify does so.
