Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
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Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#2No (Betteridge's law)
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#3This would be great. The idea of “best ranked music” results in mediocre, bland music that’s mostly ranked based on the social connections of the artist. Musical culture and genres are extremely diverse and trying to rank individual pieces of music makes discovery harder.
I doubt they’ll actually do this of course. Their monetization model relies on ranking.
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#4No (Betteridge's law)
Damn. That's one grave I would dance on so hard I'd probably twist an ankle or something.
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#5Personally, I used to be able to listen to a large portion of the top 50 on Spotify without skipping too many. As of late last year, though, I've found that the top 10 are almost exclusively songs made popular on TikTok. I can't stand to listen to these songs, not because I necessarily dislike the songs (or TikTok for that matter), but because there are 15-30s sections of the song that I have heard dozens of times, posted on TikTok as a part of some new trend. As soon as I hear one of these parts, I instinctively skip, because I'm generally listening to Spotify to chill out, and hearing something that is so tightly associated with a social network really works against my "chill".
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#6"In a seminal 2004 essay in Wired titled "The Long Tail," journalist Chris Anderson argued that digital culture would help niche music, books, and movies thrive. With fewer gatekeepers and more avenues to find likeminded fans, people would be more likely to indulge their true interests, rather than just accept what was offered by the mainstream."
Nice idea, there is some truth to it based on what we've seen so far, but we can also see how the corporations that control "what was offered by the mainstream" are now controlling (financing) the gatekeepers of the web and/or personal computing device (for lack of a better term). The new gatekeepers have become entrenched thanks to centralisation, lock-in and using the system itself as the world's most powerful hype machine, or "network effects".
The entertainment industry has gatekeepers, so too does the web (perhaps even the wider internet) and the personal computing device.
If and when things get tight for the gatekeeper business, they (web gatekeepers) will also control the so-called "long tail". What we are seeing is that it is not the "gatekeeperless" distribution channel many might imagine, as YouTube deletes a seemingly non-commercial video and arguments ensue over rights to "free speech".
The tentacles of these gatekeepers keep reaching out further. No "long tail" seems to be safe from their influence and ultimately their control.
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#7No (Betteridge's law)
Ha, fun. TIL. From http://betteridgeslaw.com (which is apparently crawling some sites daily). My favorite so far is "Was Professor Snape secretely a trans Woman?" LOL.
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#8"In a seminal 2004 essay in Wired titled "The Long Tail," journalist Chris Anderson argued that digital culture would help niche music, books, and movies thrive. With fewer gatekeepers and more avenues to find likeminded fans, people would be more likely to indulge their true interests, rather than just accept what was offered by the mainstream." Nice idea, there is some truth to it based on what we've seen so far, b…
Doesn't the article indicate...the long tail might be true?
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#9"In a seminal 2004 essay in Wired titled "The Long Tail," journalist Chris Anderson argued that digital culture would help niche music, books, and movies thrive. With fewer gatekeepers and more avenues to find likeminded fans, people would be more likely to indulge their true interests, rather than just accept what was offered by the mainstream." Nice idea, there is some truth to it based on what we've seen so far, b…
The long tail of artists that makes the platform more long-tail money with minimal cost is comparatively safe.
Especially given that artists/labels do the grunt work of loading everything to the electronic platform and even for them the cost of production and distribution is markedly decreased from several decades ago.
Re: Is Spotify Killing the Top 40?
#10This article says that the Top 40 has dropped from 35mm to 30mm plays on a Wednesday. Then it says:
"The decline is likely partially the result of an overall decrease in streaming after Covid-19 hit the US, due to the absence of people listening to music on commutes and in stores. But it’s not just that. The biggest hits are declining, while the streaming of smaller hits remains about the same."
Seems like it could be "just that". This analysis is weird without knowing whether overall numbers have dropped and whether retail / gyms / public spaces primarily played Top 40 hits (which I'd guess is likely).