Accessibility and efficiency have been a cornerstone of the internet over the past 20 years. What occurred in the 2000s was a battle over user rights and recording artists’ rights with programs such as Napster and LimeWire that ended with the landscape of the music industry changing forever. Gone are the record stores and CD kiosks of yesteryear. It is now time to enter a new era: legal streaming services. One service, in particular, has overtaken the rest of the competition as one of the most efficient AND most accessible, one that has become the pillar of modern music consumption. That special trophy, of course, belongs to Spotify, a streaming service that was founded in 2006. In the same amount of time that it took for personal computers to be commonplace in a household, Spotify has taken by far the largest share of the streaming market and has made enough inroads with the music industry to cement its place for years to come. As an actual service, it is undeniably one of the frontrunners for the tool of an average consumer of music to load up on their phone and start listening to their favorite artists. It has changed the way we consume our old and new music for the better, but how does it fare for the artists that create the music we enjoy? How exactly does this useful service work, and what exactly does it mean for smaller artists that can’t get enough support for their music? It’s about time that the giant known as Spotify gets shrunken down to be put under a microscope, and we find out if this product is really able to provide for both consumers and artists.
In order for us to understand how and why Spotify is a thinly veiled trap for aspiring artists, we should begin by pulling the curtain back on how Spotify works for a normal consumer of music. Most of you who like using Spotify maybe only use it to have your playlists in one place, or you might like using their ‘radio’ option for listening to music, where you can create a randomized playlist or ‘radio station’ filled with music that is related to a certain artist or genre. In any case, Spotify will be able to track your favorite artists and tailor their recommendations to what you should want to listen to. To put it in simple terms, whenever you listen to a new artist or even a new genre, Spotify makes a note of your decision to listen to that music. In the future, there will always be a suggestion to listen to that artist or that genre again on your personal profile. The technology that is used here is something that is very common nowadays amongst streaming services. It is a function that is known as an algorithm. An algorithm, when used by a streaming service, is a function that builds recommendations on new content based on your previous history. A good example of this is YouTube’s recommended tab that appears on the right side of your screen when watching a video. Algorithms are designed to give the consumer using the service an easy way to find new and enjoyable content without having to put in much effort. What this means in terms of Spotify is that, whenever you make a choice in music consumption, you allow the algorithm to show you new music that is related to your choice. While an algorithm is very skilled in showing you suggestions, there is no guarantee that you will like those suggestions. Any algorithm that you come across is very procedurally generated, so you will have some troubles getting your exact needs filled without any gaps in the process. The big thing to take away is if you’re trying to look for new music, using the algorithms on Spotify can be effective, but they could be wrong at times if you are not actually interested in what it has to offer.
Now, why would this be a bad thing for artists? If these algorithms that Spotify uses gives you recommendations for music that you might enjoy, then how does this affect an artist negatively? Well, one answer that comes up is the fact that even if these algorithms are exposing you to new artists that you might not have listened to before, most of the time these new artists aren’t gaining any value out of your streams. Spotify has remained one of the only ways to get coverage of a wider audience to an artists’ music, but with that accessibility to the ears of millions comes with a price. Or rather, lack thereof, considering that any and all revenue that an uploaded piece of recorded music makes has to be divided up between practically every artist that uses the platform to spread their music. We can find an example of this with Youtuber Adam Neely, who posted a video that contains the revenue that he has earned from streaming on Spotify. Going into the specifics of his scenario, in the rough calendar year of Aug 2017-2018, he made a total of $551.81 off of the music he has uploaded onto the platform, which has been streamed a total of 191,303 unique times (I am assuming that this is the unique number of individuals since he doesn’t clarify in his video explaining this very topic). Dividing these two numbers, he arrived at the jaw-droppingly low total of the value of each stream of his work to be valued at .0029 cents PER STREAM1. That’s not per second of music, that’s for every time someone streams one of his songs. The big reason why this happens is that not only will he not gain a significant portion of revenue from things like a Premium membership, but he has to divide his streaming revenue with much bigger artists that have larger stakes in that pie. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, he should start looking for a stunning mansion to purchase somewhere on the coast of a beautiful island. But before he does something like that, we should also keep in mind that thankfully, he doesn’t have to rely on this income for living a normal life. He’s also a freelance musician and music teacher, so there is no fear of surviving on leftovers for him, at least there wasn’t until the pandemic hit. The fearful thing is that we cannot say the same for the next average artist that also doesn’t have the safety net of a label. So, we come to the conclusion that for any artist that cannot get their shot at glory at a record label, they better be able to churn out music to be uploaded to every streaming and sharing website imaginable, because just relying on Spotify is not a reliable avenue, as we have demonstrated.
So what could be the solution? Well, it must be obvious right? Win the lottery! No, no, that makes too much sense. I think what makes more sense is that those of us in the crowd of supporters and listeners of indie artists should do the biggest thing we can in order to support them: buy their records! If you’re able to, you should always buy the music of the artists you love DIRECTLY from the artist. This has to be the easiest way to express fandom and appreciation of an artist’s work. Now, it may not be possible financially speaking for every single listener to buy music, but those of you who can, please consider it in order to support your favorite artists. As I’ve displayed above, we clearly cannot rely on Spotify giving smaller artists a fair cut of the streaming revenue, so it must be the responsibility of the masses to make this sort of thing happen.
To wrap up my thoughts, I’ll leave you with a quick scenario, which may or may not be inspired by my feelings of animosity towards Spotify as a fellow artist/producer of music. Imagine you log on to Spotify, ready to listen to the next song off of the new Taylor Swift album, but you find a new artist on your home page. You have two choices, give it a listen to see if it’s something you’ll enjoy, or ignore it and continue on to your preferred music. If you give it a listen, sure you may be able to provide that artist with some exposure and name recognition in the future, but chances are, you might just be only putting another drop in their empty tub of income from streaming services, considering how undervalued music has become in the eyes of Spotify. Maybe you’ll listen to this artist and become so obsessed with their music that you show them support by buying their music. In a way, it almost doesn’t matter what you choose, because Spotify will not give their work the actual fair value that it deserves, but instead just treat it as another tally on an endless wall of chalkboard that doesn’t amount to any real benefit. Always be mindful of how you’re using Spotify, and don’t be afraid to dig deeper if Spotify suggests you a new artist based on what you listened to before. Spotify, after all, is a modern-day gateway to new artists, so try to always at least entertain the suggestions that Spotify gives you. You just may be surprised.
Works Cited:
