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I'm not in the music industry, so it's hard for me to feel the pain for many of the writer's muddled points: > As an industry insider once explained to me, dig

I'm not in the music industry, so it's hard for me to feel the pain for many of the writer's muddled points: > As an industry insider once explained to me, digital strategists have identified “lean back listening” as an ever more popular Spotify-induced phenomenon. It turns out that playlists have spawned a new type of music listener, one who thinks less about the artist or album they are seeking out, and instead connects with emotions, moods and activities, where they just pick a playlist and let it roll I can't see what's wrong with this. Is it a sin to consume music to meet an emotional need or match a mood? > One independent label owner I spoke with has watched his records’ physical and digital sales decline week by week. He’s trying to play ball with the platform by pitching playlists, to varying effect. “The more vanilla the release, the better it works for Spotify. If it’s challenging music? Nah,” he says, telling me about all of the experimental, noise, and comparatively aggressive music on his label that goes unheard on the platform. This artist doesn't have to be on Spotify. > If Spotify is just feeding easy music to everybody, where does the art form go? Is anybody going to be able to push boundaries and break through to a wide audience anymore?” Again, Spotify is a platform whose interests are for itself. > Spotify’s ambition to superannuate labels is evident. In its quest for total power and control, Spotify has prioritized its own content, and it has made it notably more difficult to find albums rather than playlists. Of course Spotify prioritizes its own content. No one forces independent artists to be on Spotify. The writer is lamenting the death of an entire industry, but to blame Spotify is absurd. Blame big labels for pushing Top-40 pop nonsense for the past twenty years. Blame every single person for not valuing art. Blame modern culture for consumerism. Blame the internet for creating an expectation of instant gratification.

steve-benjamins 9y ago
I'm an artist and there's definitely a new type of listener that is listening for vibe. My most successful songs on Spotify are often described as "vibey" by listeners. People will comment on the "sound of the sounds" and the overall feel of it. Curiously I find other musicians less likely to comment about vibe. Instead they will comment on the songwriting or on the production— often picking out esoteric elements of the songs. It makes total sense that people are listening for vibe. Music is way more accessible than ever before. We pipe in music constantly to set mood or create ambience (or to cancel surrounding noise). I recently saw my father-in-law (who's in his mid-60s) sit down with his laptop and simply listen to some of his favourite folk music. He wasn't browsing the web. He was just listening. It was funny how unusual it seemed. I wonder if outrage from the music industry over the decline of active-listening has more to do with the feeling that artists are just less important. People mostly listen to music now— rather than individual artists.
mywittyname 9y ago
Artists kind of do have to be on Spotify. Not in the sense that there's a gun to their head, but in the sense that the gun is pointing to the head of their career.
- KozmoNau7 9y ago
  Artists hardly make any money from album sales, unless it's direct payment to them, trough services like Bandcamp. The labels and management take way too big cuts. Most bands make their money from touring and merch, and it's been this way for a long long time.
  - mywittyname 9y ago
    Artists get screwed over touring too. Live Nation owns most of the arenas they can perform in as well as the places they can sell their tickets through, so most of the money you pay for tickets go to them instead of the artist. And record deals usually include a % of merch sales, which is the reason t-shirts are like $30.
    - KozmoNau7 9y ago
      That depends a lot on the size of the venue. Most of the smaller and medium sized venues here are outside of Live Nation's grip. And LN seems to be a lot more benign here, compared to their behavior in the US.

steve-benjamins 9y ago

I'm an artist and there's definitely a new type of listener that is listening for vibe. My most successful songs on Spotify are often described as "vibey" by listeners. People will comment on the "sound of the sounds" and the overall feel of it. Curiously I find other musicians less likely to comment about vibe. Instead they will comment on the songwriting or on the production— often picking out esoteric elements of the songs. It makes total sense that people are listening for vibe. Music is way more accessible than ever before. We pipe in music constantly to set mood or create ambience (or to cancel surrounding noise). I recently saw my father-in-law (who's in his mid-60s) sit down with his laptop and simply listen to some of his favourite folk music. He wasn't browsing the web. He was just listening. It was funny how unusual it seemed. I wonder if outrage from the music industry over the decline of active-listening has more to do with the feeling that artists are just less important. People mostly listen to music now— rather than individual artists.

mywittyname 9y ago

Artists kind of do have to be on Spotify. Not in the sense that there's a gun to their head, but in the sense that the gun is pointing to the head of their career.

KozmoNau7 9y ago
Artists hardly make any money from album sales, unless it's direct payment to them, trough services like Bandcamp. The labels and management take way too big cuts. Most bands make their money from touring and merch, and it's been this way for a long long time.
- mywittyname 9y ago
  Artists get screwed over touring too. Live Nation owns most of the arenas they can perform in as well as the places they can sell their tickets through, so most of the money you pay for tickets go to them instead of the artist. And record deals usually include a % of merch sales, which is the reason t-shirts are like $30.
  - KozmoNau7 9y ago
    That depends a lot on the size of the venue. Most of the smaller and medium sized venues here are outside of Live Nation's grip. And LN seems to be a lot more benign here, compared to their behavior in the US.