Stereogum Headline: Taylor Swift will reportedly make $100 million from Spotify streams this year.
I remain unwillingly to endorse the majority of the Spotify Is Evil narratives because most of it simply don’t align with reality. While other narratives are intellectually lazy…using Spotify as the shorthand of the stupid which doubles as misdirection…I have no idea what Tidal is up to because so many have decided to only bully Spotify.
Some questions naturally prompted by this article:
I’ve often wondered about the source of Drake’s wealth…I guess you can make good money from streaming. Popularity is profitable. (Though that dude makes a living whining and being sad. So there’s no “accounting” for taste.)
However these Taylor Swift numbers haven’t been accurately reported by Spotify. So there’s a legit issue. It sounds nice but it may not be real.
Also there’s zero context in this sloppy reporting…how does this compare with the established revenue streams like radio airplay? Physical sales?
Do popular artists like Taylor Swift make more or less on Spotify compared to Tidal, Amazon Music etc. (And not just cumulative? What about per song? What about discovery and payola?)
Lastly…what’s a hit song now?
If you can stream anything what goes on the best of collection?
How does (Spotify) streaming numbers alter the best of collection metrics? Or concert setlists?
Again this is and should always be bigger than Spotify. When it comes to criticisms shorthands are easy to shake it off.
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
