Platform pop: disentangling Spotify’s intermediary role in the music industry

Prey, Robert; Valle, Marc Esteve Del; Zwerwer, Leslie R.

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2020.1761859

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Th ere is a sense of disconnection from the processes that dictate success in the streaming market, even among the most enthusiastic label managers. Th e shift in power between the labels and the streaming services described by Bonini & Gandini (2019), Eriksson et al (2019), Prey (2020) and Prey et al (2020) is fully visible in the interviews. Th ese frustrations are more than mere economic concerns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Two particular issues were referred to and discussed in the interviews: (1) access to playlists, and (2) the role of algorithms. Obviously, these issues are connected; playlists have a central role in how we discover and listen to music (Bonini & Gandini, 2019;Hagen, 2015;Kjus, 2016), and algorithms increasingly determine the performance of a song (Morgan, 2020;Prey, 2020;Prey et al, 2020). Th e two forces aff ect one another, and both issues aff ect plurality and diversity.…”

Section: Control and Access: Playlists And Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Views from the boundaries

Nordgård

2021

MedieKultur

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This article explores how Norwegian record label managers understand their current positions and future possibilities in a market that is increasingly driven by on-demand subscription-based streaming. It adds to a growing body of research by adopting a qualitative approach, seeking to describe issues at a personal or company level, and provide nuance and dynamics in a discourse that is often described in dichotomies and on aggregate levels. The article argues that stakeholders have more varied attitudes than simply being for or against the innovation, the new economic models and their eff ects on their own business, and the market in general. It also demonstrates that perceptions change as markets develop, and stakeholders and their businesses adjust. The article uses four in-depth interviews to assess a 2013 government-initiated project, and provides insights into differing positions and changes over time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Control and Access: Playlists And Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Views from the boundaries

Nordgård

2021

MedieKultur

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“…"Algotorial playlists on Spotify have a lower share of major label content," the report stated. Independent research confirms this general picture: a random selection of 500 Spotify-curated playlists reveals a major label share of just above 50% of all tracks (Prey et al, 2020). 4 Regardless of whether one compares this to the major labels' traditional dominance of radio (Thomson, 2009), or to their combined 70% market share of global recorded music revenues in 2018 (Mulligan, 2019), it is easy to see why Spotify is considered by some to be "a major thorn in (major) labels' sides" (Sandoval, 2018).…”

Section: The Music Marketmentioning

confidence: 82%

Locating Power in Platformization: Music Streaming Playlists and Curatorial Power

Prey

2020

Social Media + Society

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Where does the “power” of platformization reside? As is widely recognized, platforms are matchmakers which interface between different markets or “sides.” This article analyzes platform power dynamics through three of the most important markets that Spotify—the leading audio streaming platform—is embedded within: the music market; the advertising market; and the finance market. It does so through the lens of the playlist. Playlists can be seen as a central example of how platforms like Spotify employ curation or “curatorial power” to mediate markets in the attempt to advance their own interests. At the same time, playlists are an outcome of the conflicting pressures and tensions between these markets. As such, they provide a lens through which to view broader structural dynamics within the platform economy. As this case study of Spotify demonstrates, platform “power” is an always unstable and shifting outcome of the ongoing attempt to coordinate between various markets and actors.

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“…In addition, Spotify released an overview in 2018, based on the data aggregated from the first decade of the service, which revealed that Anglo-Saxon artists had the most exposure (Snapes, 2018). Furthermore, Prey et al (2020) found that Spotify's playlists show a bias toward major label content.…”

Section: The Superstar Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Splendid Isolation”: The reproduction of music industry inequalities in Spotify’s recommendation system

Tófalvy

Koltai

2021

New Media & Society

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In this article, we argue that offline inequalities, such as core–periphery relations of the music industry, are reproduced by streaming platforms. First, we offer an overview of the reproduction of inequalities and core–periphery dynamics in the music industry. Then we illustrate this through a small-scale network analysis case study of Hungarian metal bands’ connections on Spotify. We show that the primary determinant of a given band’s international connectedness in Spotify’s algorithmic ecosystem is their international label connections. Bands on international labels have more reciprocal international connections and are more likely to be recommended based on actual genre similarity. However, bands signed with local labels or self-published tend to have domestic connections and to be paired with other artists by Spotify’s recommendation system according to their country of origin.

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Platform pop: disentangling Spotify’s intermediary role in the music industry

Cited by 42 publications

References 34 publications

Views from the boundaries

Views from the boundaries

Locating Power in Platformization: Music Streaming Playlists and Curatorial Power

“Splendid Isolation”: The reproduction of music industry inequalities in Spotify’s recommendation system

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