Ah, It’s December Again: The Spotify Wrapped Debate Returns
Ah, It’s December Again
Every year, around this time, people post their Spotify Wrapped to show the world what they’ve been listening to. And every year, around this time, people mock those who post it, accusing them of destroying the music scene, bands, and everything else.
Let’s take a moment to see how things actually stand and whether anyone is really “right” here.
One of the main criticisms from this second group is that listening to music this way doesn’t benefit the bands. And that’s more or less true. Streaming services don’t pay as much as people think they should, but they do charge their customers for the service. Essentially, they do pay, but the situation is more complicated than people assume. Still, the first group—the people who consume music this way—aren’t to blame for this. The real culprits are the music industry and a series of events over the past 25 years. Yes, it’s been that long.
Do those who criticize streaming even remember what things were like before? Records, CDs? Oh, yeah sure. but we also had piracy and listened to music in .mp3 files, often without any connection to the artists, let alone any benefits for them. No cover art, no release dates, sometimes not even a song title… Compared to that, streaming came as a kind of salvation. A forced solution, but still better—at least your favorite band gets those $0.0004 instead of absolutely nothing. Isn’t that so?
Of course, someone might say, “But with a $10 CD, the band would have gotten at least $5.” And that’s absolutely true. But we haven’t lived in such a world for a long time. Ever since smartphones became widely used and the internet became super-fast and accessible to everyone, it was the end for outdated technologies. At the same time, the music industry and some individuals within it have adapted well to this, or took advantage if you will. “But wait, they’re stealing money from bands!” Yes, no argument there. Governments and political elites also steal from us, and we can’t do anything about it, in most cases.
But can we do anything against streaming companies? Should we all take down our music from these platforms because they don’t pay us properly? Hmm, let’s think about it.
There’s no need to talk about big artists. People will listen to them no matter what. Let’s take, for example, a band with 1,000 monthly listeners. A young band, new, just starting out. Or a band that formed 10 years ago and now has a solid 10,000 monthly listeners. Here’s a personal example:
Twenty years ago, I formed my first band. We were young, played gigs around town, and lived the rock ’n’ roll dream. Recording a song in a professional studio was just a dream because we didn’t have the money. Computers weren’t as developed as they are today, so home recording wasn’t an option. And even if we had wanted to, we didn’t know how to do it. Where could we have learned? YouTube tutorials,lol!
We didn’t have smartphones to record HD videos or anything like that like bands can today. And even if we had managed to record songs, who would have heard them? Record labels would have kicked us out of their offices if we even showed up there. Who would have written about us? Music magazines? Do you think they had the space and time to write about every single band that appeared on the scene? Do you know how much paper and printing cost?
Today, it’s a completely different story.
Today, you might have 1,000 people listening to you every month—or more—from all around the world. Back then, we were only heard by our friends and people in our town. Do you know how satisfying it would have been for us to see analytics showing someone thousands of kilometers away listening to our song? Or for a website like Junkyard Rock Stories to write about us, just because our song landed on its editor’s playlist? Just think about how much of an advantage you have with these things today.
Or, if you don’t like that example, let’s go even further back. Let’s say the 1980s. Many people think that having 10,000 monthly listeners on streaming platforms today would have brought them fame, money, and everything that goes with it in the ’80s. Sure, for some, it definitely would have. But that’s not the case for thousands and thousands of bands today. Do you think you would have easily gotten a record label contract back in the day? Ask people from the movie The Decline of Western Civilization Part II where they are today and why they didn’t become as famous as their peers. There are also people on YouTube from that era who talk about it. Let’s be honest—not all of you could have been Guns N’ Roses.
On the other hand, think about how people listen to music today. We live in a fast-paced world where information flies in seconds and there’s less and less free time for doing stuff like music listening. That’s why some people listen to music on the go—while walking the dog, running, driving, exercising, etc. Back then, people used Walkmans or Discmans for these situations. Those devices weren’t as small and slim as phones, and they could only play one CD or cassette at a time. The others you’d carry in your bag… And rewinding? Batteries? There were countless complications.
But wait, what about the sound quality? You know, these streaming services are diminishing the sound quality, and it’s not how bands intended for their music to be listened to. Yeah, sure—that is 100% correct. But you know who cares about that? The 1% of people out there who call themselves audiophiles, while the other 99% don’t give a damn.
Finally, I want to say one more thing: no, I’m not a streaming service advocate. I’m fully aware of their positive and negative sides. I’ve even mentioned some of them here. I’m just annoyed when December comes around, and people start ranting about how it’s all bad and a farce.
Oh, if only back in 2005 someone had posted on MySpace that they listened to my band the most that year… Like a MySpace Wrapped or something like that. That’s no small thing. And, yes, there were forums back than, but be serious….
So stop whining and let people consume music however they want. These are the rules of the game, and there’s little we can do about it until the next big change comes along. It’s that simple. People know how to support a band. If they want, they’ll buy merch or a CD, but the rest is streaming, and for now, there’s not much we can do about it.
P.S. – Spotify is used as an example here. It is the same for every other streaming service.
Sign Up For Regular Updates From Junkyard World
