![]() The death of the album has been forecast for over a decade and streaming services like Spotify have been one of the many potential culprits blamed. This strategy could be seen to lead to more padding and fewer hits, ultimately diluting powerful records with bland or forgettable tunes, “as if artists are curating playlists rather than crafting cohesive projects”, according to this VICE article.Īdele’s insistence on the importance of streaming the twelve tracks on 30 in their proper order, and Spotify’s capitulation to her request, will resonate with artists who have been urged by labels, publishers, or the industry writ large to create “playlistable” singles or lengthier albums. It also means more money.Īrtists have released longer albums, such as Kanye West’s recent album Donda (Deluxe) with a track listing topping 30 songs. Having more songs on an album means more streams, which could translate to a higher chart position. The music industry is booming and can afford to give artists a fairer dealīeginning in 2014, Billboard started calculating album equivalent units, or the number of streams that would count as one album sale when determining an album’s position on Billboard Charts. The imperative to create popular singles is not new, the music industry is and has been centred around the hits, but the shifting logic of digital music streaming puts pressure on artists to examine carefully the cost and benefits of creating longer form art. Orphan songs separated on a playlist from their album will not be experienced as part of a story in the context as artists like Adele intended. Producing “playlistable” songs that are more likely to be placed on a popular genre or mood playlist is now a crucial strategy to build a following, attract labels and earn a living in music – but doing so comes at a cost. Much like radio stations, Spotify features playlists of the top charting songs in various regions, but unlike radio stations Spotify has a vast library of playlists to match every genre, mood, and moment handpicked by curators or created and shared by other users. One important issue is curated playlists. ![]() According to Digital Music News a niche EDM artist who managed the impressive feat of having listeners stream their music one million times over four months only generated about US$5,000 (A$6,924) in 2013. Though revenues from streaming are far lower than purchases or individual downloads, superstar artists like Drake have taken advantage of streaming services to garner billions of streams that pay out millions of dollars in revenue.Įven so, the numbers are underwhelming for mid-tier and independent artists. Artists, labels and production companies have taken note from Spotify as to what works and doesn’t work on a music streaming platform. Spotify’s decision to hide the shuffle button contrasts accusations that Spotify is responsible for “killing” the musical album as we once knew it.Īs the largest music streaming service by paid subscription, Spotify is a powerful force in the global music industry. AAP Image/James Ross) The album is not dead Spotify has faced dissatisfaction and criticism from musicians who decry the appalling low streaming payout rates to artists, and academics who raise concerns over the platform’s lack of transparency around data.īut Spotify has rarely changed course in response to critique – yet Spotify willingly removed the feature from album pages upon Adele’s request to preserve the continuity of her album – a sign of the artist’s immense clout.Īs the largest music streaming service by paid subscription, Spotify is a powerful force in the global music industry. This change applies to all albums, not just Adele’s 30, and features on both mobile and desktop versions of Spotify. A statement from Spotify hailed their “new premium feature to make play the default button on all albums”. Shuffle is still available on Spotify for playlists, but users must now access it via a menu when listening to albums as opposed to having the option right next to the play button. Mood, music and money: what our Spotify playlists reveal about the emotional nature of financial markets In 2014, Spotify tweaked their algorithm to make shuffle seem more random. The problem is true randomness means the same song might sometimes play repeatedly. Shuffle is essentially a random number generator that picks the next songs based on chance. It served as a staple for Spotify’s largest competitor Apple, via iTunes and long-forgotten devices such as the iPod and iPod shuffle. In the early 1980s, shuffle was available on CD players and MP3 players. Spotify’s shuffle button randomises songs.
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