Whether we’re talking songs that are popular on Spotify, or were Billboard hits through the ‘40s up to recent years, popularity cannot be attributed solely to quantifiable acoustic elements.
By implementing paywalls, making exclusive content deals and incorporating ad tech, big media companies have reshaped what was once an entirely free and open ecosystem.
A Spotify boycott wouldn’t fix the working conditions of most musicians. Fostering a more equitable, community-based music culture requires changing how we listen to music and support its production.
Tech giants such as Spotify like to claim they are platforms, not publishers, and aren’t editorially responsible for the content they host. But with COVID threatening lives, they have to do better.
Spotify will pull Neil Young’s music after the musician demanded the streaming service remove The Joe Rogan Experience from its platform, as an episode of the podcast promoted COVID misinformation.
Adele released her fourth studio album 30 and wants people to listen to the songs in the order she intended - asking Spotify to remove the “shuffle” function from her album.
The iPod was a marvel: a sleek device that let you pocket your favourite tunes and roam around town. Today it’s more or less obsolete — but its impact has been evident.
A new study using music streaming data to measure national mood underlines how much stock markets are governed by emotion rather than rational calculation.
Podcasting exploded due to the lack of gatekeepers. Now big tech companies are starting to act like traditional media networks, signing popular hosts to exclusive contracts and establishing paywalls.
Aspiring singers can now use apps to record professional-sounding songs from their phones. This has the potential to disrupt the recording and publishing industry.