FEATURE:
Numbers and Solutions
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Streaming in the 2020s
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THERE are so many reasons to love streaming services…
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and promote them. Spotify was created in Sweden in 2006 and, in the 2010s, it has changed the way we consume music. The instant accessibility and variety is a reason why so many people can get into music and broaden their horizons. Rather than be choosy regarding albums and songs we listen to, one can browse a host of different sounds for very little money. Back before streaming, one had to rely on record shops and traditional outlets. It meant we had to be specific about the albums we were buying because, unlike today, we could not buy everything we wanted and do that regularly. Now, we all have playlists and libraries full of the best established and new music. That is a great thing, and I love how I can go online and get the latest tracks without having to wait and pay a lot of money. There is that debate as to whether streaming services pay artists enough and whether we need to improve that side of things. Certainly, the amount artists generate from streaming figures is meagre, unless you are a huge artist who can attract millions of streams. I think streaming sites have changed music more than anything else over the past decades. As we are now in the 2020s, its influence and relevance will increase and continue to dominate. For consumers who love their music, I do think streaming sites have an important role and allow newer artists to have their stuff heard. Again, years ago, there was no way for new artists to be heard and discovered. Sites such as MySpace opened that door, and now streaming services provide a platform for pretty much anyone and everyone.
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I am not going to attack streaming sites because, as I say, they are very useful and allow everyone to access music from around the world for very little expenditure. That is a good thing when one considers the sheer volume of music out there. I know we have YouTube as well so, if we need all the best new and older music, we have options. A reason why I wanted to write this is to see how streaming sites will affect music in the 2020s. Look back at the past decade and, despite some controversy – issues regarding compensating artists for example -, there have been a lot of benefits regarding streaming. The last few years especially have seen streaming sites blow up and dominate how we consume music. I do wonder, though, whether streaming will consume music and replace conventional purchasing. I can understand why sites like Spotify are popular and, whilst I and so many others use the site, are we spending as much on albums as we should? So many people use Spotify and other streaming sites for free, and many of us idly scroll through songs without listening to them the way through. In practical terms, I suppose it would be impossible to have a music industry where we were expected to buy rather than stream. It would mean so many new artists would never be heard and, in this day and age, are people going to buy singles?!
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In order for us as music fans to discover and investigate some great new artists, streaming sites need to be around. I am a big supporter of people buying music and getting out to shops, but I do feel, as the years roll on, so many people are relying on the Internet because it is convenient and inexpensive. Not that one can blame streaming entirely, but has the shift and evolution in the industry lead to things becoming more about streaming figures and less about the excitement of an album? By that, I mean so much stock is put in how many streams a song or albums gets. I think we are losing a lot of anticipation and that feeling of build-up. Because there is so much music around and there is a sea of artists in the world, there are very few artists that remain for years; few occasions when an album arrives and there is that enormous excitement and desire. Whilst streaming services need to be around, I wonder whether we rely too heavily on them and whether they are too prevalent. The same is true with T.V. and streaming: there is Netflix and Apple TV alongside Amazon prime Video and other services. In music, we have Spotify and Tidal and, really, it can be quite exhausting and too much. I have found myself backing away from streaming over the past few months, and I am endeavouring to buy more music (from retail outlets) this decade.
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I wanted to introduce an article from The Guardian that talks about streaming and how services, on T.V. and music, have overwhelmed us and, at the same time, made us more isolated:
“It feels like there are fewer household names, more cult figures – and the gulf between the universally famous and the known-to-just-some grows wider and wider. A discussion about music with an old friend or a new acquaintance can go quite a long way before you find something that you have both heard. Not only there is a sprawling span of contemporary niche sounds and micro-genres, but there are several generations of ageing stars and tenacious fringe figures still out there gigging and recording, Meanwhile, the reissue industry constantly rescues obscure artists from oblivion and repositions them as deserving of attention and ear-time, while the amateur archivists of YouTube and album-sharing sites mop up anybody and everybody else remaining with a scintilla of significance.
The idea of Spotify introducing a similar function seems unlikely: while a TV narrative could be compressed without loss of information, in a profound sense music simply is a particular experience of time, so altering its rate of flow would be to change its essence. But who knows? The challenge of too much music and too little time could drive a music fan to desperate measures. Research suggests that average song lengths have decreased significantly in response to streaming, while canny writers and producers are placing the chorus at the start of singles (such as High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco) to hook browsing listeners instantly. The rise of TikTok as a teenage go-to discovery engine for new music plays into this syndrome, with its 15-second fan-created videos that turn songs into bite-size samples at the pop supermarket.
A sense of sanity-endangering overload was already apparent in the 2000s. The shift between the first decade of the 21st century and the 2010s can be partly conveyed by the contrast between “torrents” and “streaming”. Both terms evoke the new liquidity of cultural products freed from solid form and turned into pure information. Visiting torrent sites or filesharing platforms was a purposeful activity, though – like going to an MP3 retailer such as iTunes except without a financial transaction taking place. Legal and illegal downloading alike was still tethered to the notion of music ownership, even if the collection was now infinitesimally inconspicuous, crammed into a hard drive or that antique object, the iPod”.
I do love the fact streaming means we can widen our mindset and are not limited in terms of cost. Anyone can listen to what they want, which means we do not have to miss out. I wonder whether we are getting too much for free; if we are being overloaded and, as this decade progresses, what impact that will have on the music industry. Streaming has to exist, but I do worry we are not taking time to listen to music and, with so much in front of us, what that effect is. Although streaming is helping to generate more money, artists are still not getting their just rewards. I do hope we all use this decade as an excuse to get out to record shops and take a bit of a step back from streaming sites.
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Whilst it might be rich for me to say something like that – as I use it a lot for my work -, I do sort of miss the days when I could get excited about an album coming out and there was that anticipation. I am not saying we all need to return to past decades and forge streaming sites, because there are many benefits to be found. This article discusses the plus-sides of sites like Spotify:
“Spotify speaks to this silent majority of music fans. Audiophiles, object fetishists, anti-capitalists, musicians – these groups noisily protest Spotify, but are marginal compared with the number of ordinary listeners, who never read the liner notes in the first place. For many people, music is just for mood, something to work, exercise or have sex to – situations that Spotify usefully caters to with playlists such as Productive Morning, Extreme Metal Workout and 90s Baby Makers.
It is a badge of pride for musos to say that Spotify’s machine-learning algorithms – when you listen to a track and it recommends things you might also like – don’t cover their cosmopolitan taste. But there are plenty more people who have relatively narrow taste, for whom – in a world where not everyone has the time or inclination to read up on new music – this kind of recommendation is really cherished. And if you do happen to have catholic taste, or fannish obsession, there are some very deep back catalogues to go down (even, should you so desire, Basshunter’s). There are debates to be had over revenue sharing and the acts it chooses to promote, but Spotify’s free, total access makes it essentially utopian”.
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The main reason why I would suggest people spend less time on streaming sites is because of the types of songs favoured: something quite populist and monotonous that will get some big streaming numbers but will not necessarily stick in the head. There are downsides that will continue to exist and rule this decade:
“It limits music discovery and the sound of music itself. Singles are tailored to beat the skip-rate that hinders a song’s chances of making it on to a popular playlist: hooks and choruses hit more quickly. Homogenous mid-tempo pop drawing from rap and EDM has become dominant: New York Times pop critic Jon Caramanica regularly disparages this sound as “Spotifycore”.
The algorithm pushes musicians to create monotonous music in vast quantities for peak chart success: hence this year’s tedious 106-minute Migos album, Culture II, and Drake’s dominance. Add in Spotify’s hugely popular artists with no profile outside the platform, widely assumed to be fake artists commissioned by Spotify to bulk out playlists and save on royalties, and music appears in danger of becoming a kind of grey goo.
It continually perpetuates such inequality: a report by Pelly found that despite the “woke optics of playlists like Feminist Friday”, women are underrepresented on its most popular playlists. (Meanwhile, Drake benefited from Spotify’s first “global artist takeover”, his face and music appearing on every editorialised playlist when he released this year’s Scorpion.) These function as echo chambers, popularity begetting more support, the antithesis of musical democracy”.
I do think streaming sites are vital when it comes to new artists and giving them a platform. It would be unrealistic to charge everyone something to play every song they access or return us to a time when we could only buy albums/singles and there was no streaming. I put together playlists and love the fact I can get every song I need with the click of a mouse. What I am going to do this decade is rely on streaming less. I love the radio and still get a buzz going to record shops and actually purchasing music. Whilst we may have passed a time where an album release is an exciting and curious thing, getting out to gigs and taking a step back from streaming is a wise thing. I think, if we all used streaming services less frequently, it would have a benefit on the mainstream. Songs would become longer – as many artists create shorter songs because of people’s tendencies to skip through tracks -, and I feel we would appreciate the album form more. Maybe we have come too far to reverse the negative effects of streaming, but I do feel we all need to be a bit more aware of how reliant we are on streaming sites. As much as anything, there is still that debate as to whether artists are paid enough and, as more people turn to streaming, whether this means only the biggest mainstream stars will profit. Use the 2020s to be broad and explorative, but we also cannot ignore record shops and the joy of buying music; the community and sense of satisfaction of owning something. Also, in a sea of music and playlists, I do think we are all getting a bit buried and hooked on streaming. I hope this decade sees more people returning to buying music but, at the same time, using streaming sites to discover hidden gems and the best new artists around. I hope we do see some changes and steps forward that mean we have the best of both worlds. Hopefully, if more people buy music (either from shops or sites like Bandcamp), it means artists can…
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GET their fair cut.