von In honour of Spotify Wrapped last month, let’s also wrap our heads around what Spotify has been doing. And, spoiler alert, it is definitely on the naughty list.
First off, and this may come as a surprise for those who do not live in the US, but Spotify has been supporting Trump by playing advertisements to their users to join ICE. This has led to some protests and people leaving the service, but has not prompted Spotify to remove the ads.
But perhaps you say that isn’t so bad. Perhaps you say that’s just the reality of businesses. Perhaps you say that other companies got more and this isn’t so bad in comparison. Well I would say you could argue it’s either bad business, but judging by Spotify being worth 120 billion dollars that doesn’t seem likely, so maybe the higher ups just gave the Trump administration a discount out of the kindness of their hearts or have a soft spot for his policies. Still does Spotify really deserve to be on the naughty list for this?
Well, there was more…
Maybe you choose Spotify because you want to support your favourite artists. In that case it’s good to know that Spotify only pays about 0.003-0.005¢ per stream, which ranks them lower than Tidal and Apple Music. And let’s say for example you want to just listen to one song by a musician, if you buy it from the iTunes store they’ll get roughly 70¢, which on Spotify streaming would take about 230 individual streams for them to get basically the same amount.
So if Spotify barely pays their artists, then maybe it’s at least a good platform to find new bands made of definitely real human beings. Right. Right?
Well…
Like many, Spotify has jumped on the AI bandwagon. This has led to a rise of “AI assisted” bands and even AI music being released under bands without their knowledge. But the big story was The Velvet Sundown which released 2 albums and had millions of streams before admitting it’s all AI generated.
To be fair, Spotify has since removed The Velvet Sundown from their service once this was revealed. Even still, they are very friendly with AI, having used it for playlist curation for a while. For those who care about sustainability, there are lots of problematic aspects of AI, such as its water usage, environmental impact, and even the technological demands. So if you find yourself wondering where the clean water went, or why laptops and tech is getting so expensive, this is a good place to turn your attention to.
All in all, it’s been a morally questionable year for Spotify, even if it has been a success financially. None of this is to say you can’t enjoy or use Spotify. Just that while sharing and seeing your Spotify Wrapped with others, it’s important to know what those numbers cover up and support.
Foto: Image by StockSnap from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/android-mobile-smartphone-2618093/
