Last week I saw my oft ignored social media feed “blow up” with end of year Spotify stats for artists and listeners. I will hand it to Spotify that they have done an excellent job at putting together the recap. But I guess that’s because really, it benefits them the most.
The Humble Brag
For some artists, sharing the EOY stats is an easy lay up by Spotify to help us sensitive artist types feel okay about shouting out a win. I think that IS part of Spotify’s intention for creating these summaries BUT knowing a bit more about the model of Spotify, it is also very much about promoting their business.
You’ve Changed Since You Met Spotify
Think about how releasing music has changed because of Spotify. If you want to be a serious musician, you’ve gotta get on that algorithmic playlist train.
Yes, this will help you reach a wider audience and get that feeling of blowing-up. No problems there. However to qualify, Spotify is going to require you to seriously promote their platform to your fans
If you’d like to feel remotely affirmed as a professional musician by getting on the illusive “Algorithmic Playlist”, you gotta get on the algorithm train.
Pay-To-Play
This leads to an approach to marketing music that is as old as recorded music itself – payola. For those who’ve never heard of it, this was a system of record labels schmoozing radio DJs to get them to “break” their artist singles on the radio station. It was and still is illegal but it keeps happening.
For some independent musicians who want to get some attention to their music and some streaming love for that new song, you can buy streams and playlist placements. It’s not illegal although Spotify frowns on it and will ban your artist profile. The playlist thing is pretty much the streaming equivalent of payola.
If you’re trying to break onto the algorithmic playlist and you’ve got a marketing budget, why wouldn’t you?
As an aside, the thing this always makes me wonder is how many amazing songs haven’t we heard because the artist couldn’t pull the marketing levers or have the right connections to get their music into enough ears?
Spotify’s Model Needs Sensitive Artist Types
The truth is that Spotify doesn’t own any of the music they charge for. You can take your music off the platform and they have lost inventory. They need your music much more than you need their tenth of cent per stream.
Yes, it’s not all about the streaming revenue BUT you need to remember that Spotify is gamifying their platform so you’ll work extra hard to push listeners to their service rather than other services.
If you want to learn more about the craziness of Spotify I’d recommend watching these videos by Benn Jordan. They are well researched and, whilst I don’t completely agree with some of his conclusions/opinions, worth your time for an alternative perspective.
The Takeaway: Are Spotify’s method and model something you want to align with. Are their alternatives? I’m asking the same questions and right now I don’t have the answers. I’ll let you know if I come up with any.
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