The predictable backlash to the sharing of Spotify Wrapped reports by subscribers of the streaming service is becoming increasingly annoying. Bitter killjoys who claim “Spotify doesn’t pay artists” clearly don’t care to read financial statements. Besides, the fact that the overwhelming majority of artists and record labels employ Spotify speaks for itself.
Spotify hasn’t paid me a penny for my “content” (ugh!) at the service. Instead of deflecting the blame for my unpopularity, I’m thrilled my work is just a click away for anyone with an internet connection. With a more marketable concept I might be among the more than 10,000 artists earning more than $100,000 a year through Spotify streams.
Yet I’ve noticed an even more troubling trend. Citing principles, an increasing number of individuals claim to boycott all music streaming services. When I hear the audacious assertion, I’m forced to believe that either these people don’t really care for music or they limit their listening to highly specialized niches.
The internet killed my career twenty years ago, but there’s not point in being bitter. The capacity to hear almost everything on demand fulfills a lifelong fantasy. I consume hundreds of newly released songs and albums every week. It’s not a coincidence that I spent an unprecedented amount of money on tickets to more than 100 music events in 2024. That’s among the reasons why the 2024 edition of my Spotify Wrapped represents a dream come true.
Back in the day, I bought CDs, DVDs and VHS videos directly from Rich the Factor O.T.T. (out the trunk) or at the Kansas City retailer 7th Heaven. Now the groundbreaking local hero has more than 100 titles posted at Spotify. I almost certainly wouldn’t have become enamored with Grupo Frontera without access to music streaming. The band’s buoyant songs were my go-to party soundtrack throughout the year. As a dozen Hank Williams CDs moldered in the Museum of Dead People and Obsolete Music Formats in my basement, streaming versions of his pain songs were staples of my roadtrips.
Here’s a concession to the naysayers: obviously, I didn’t listen to Johann Sebastian Bach or Henry Purcell. That’s impossible. Spotify apparently prioritizes the composers’ tags over the performers’ labels. That’s presumably why the likes of Hilary Hahn, Anja Lechner and Brad Mehldau don’t show up here. I can only assume their representatives are aware of the anomaly.
