Some commentators online, however, have been quick to point out how the data-driven campaign also highlights the relatively small amounts artists are actually earning from their streams – and the lack of sustainability this offers. For artists, there’s the obvious appeal of bragging about just what a great year they’ve had and how much of the world loves their music. In this specific case, listeners are offered an opportunity to show off what has been, for the most part, a private listening experience: they can use social media to broadcast a cutely-designed graphic of just how cool/ironic/embarrassing/reflective-of-the-summer-of-football-coming-home-to-watch-Love-Island their music taste is. These things are effective, ultimately, because they appeal to our egos – the strapline for Wrapped is ‘no one else listened exactly like you’. It’s a smart, well-executed campaign that’s clearly very successful for the streaming company. (The tech start-up has worked hard in the last couple of years to try and build stronger relationships with artists on its platform – ultimately, some speculate, in the hope of being able to cut out the record label middlemen further down the line.) Those with music on Spotify were given access to their own individualised micro-sites, which included stats and facts on the number of streams, listeners, countries listened in, etc. This year, Spotify expanded the campaign to include artists as well as listeners. Subscribers can choose to share their stats online or even opt to have them displayed on huge billboards around the world. Stats are provided on everything from the total time spent listening to music via Spotify, to how many hours you’ve spent with specific artists, and more obscure things like the dominant star sign of your most-listened-to acts (yeah, me neither). Now in its second year, Spotify’s ‘Wrapped’ campaign involves plumbing the troves of data generated by the company’s tens of millions of subscribers to deliver a personalised ‘year in review’ for individual users.
But the year-end results have also highlighted another problem for Spotify: bots. Spotify Wrapped has been met with equal parts joy and ire this year, as musicians and fans alike debate the virtues of the streaming service and its payment model.
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