←back to thread

Ghost artists on Spotify

(harpers.org)
556 points greenie_beans | 4 comments | 19 Dec 24 14:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.682s | source
Show context
dools ◴[20 Dec 24 03:31 UTC] No.42468039[source]▶
Isn't this just like how supermarkets have their "house brands" that compete with name brands? If your consumption of music amounts to "whatever Spotify tells me to listen to" then chances are you were the type of person who used to just have the radio on for background noise anyway.

EDIT: If you think about this "scandal" in reverse, that is that Spotify was started as a background, inert restaurant playlist app that paid session musicians to record 50 songs a day for lo-fi chill ambient jazz playlists, and later tried to expand their reach by allowing musicians to upload their songs, it wouldn't be a scandal at all.

replies(2): >>42468128 #>>42473405 #
pests ◴[20 Dec 24 03:52 UTC] No.42468128[source]▶
Its not in reverse though.

If a upscale steak restaurant is known for using quality meats and then they decide to include something like Beyond Meat but make it hard to tell that's what you're ordering.

Expectations were set.

Personally I have no issue with it.

replies(4): >>42468399 #>>42468520 #>>42469516 #>>42470946 #
big-green-man ◴[20 Dec 24 05:28 UTC] No.42468520[source]▶
If you walk into a steakhouse and order the porterhouse and you get taco bell Beefy™ meat, that's one thing. If you pay the restaurant a monthly retainer to feed you steak whenever you feel like wandering in and you get such treatment, you weren't really ripped off.

Someone tells Spotify "I want to listen to the latest Lil yachty album" and it plays, expectations were met. Someone says "play whatever I just need background noise", expectations were also met. You can't ask for elevator music and be upset that that's what you get. The fact that you can still pay a flat monthly rate and get access to almost any music you'd want to hear, that's like still getting the porterhouse every day for a monthly fee. That's amazing and fantastic. Don't expect it to last much longer. And don't ask for the soup of the day if you want something fresh.

replies(1): >>42468755 #
1. foota ◴[20 Dec 24 06:22 UTC] No.42468755[source]▶
I don't know how I feel about this, but the people that are upset about this seem to be upset for musicians. Which, I don't know how I feel. It feels like the outsourcing of the music industry.
replies(2): >>42470154 #>>42474293 #
2. Yeul ◴[20 Dec 24 11:16 UTC] No.42470154[source]▶
Spotify sends users a notification when their favourite artist has a concert. I think that's a nice gesture.

Nowadays you make money with live gigs not snorting coke in a studio making concept albums. And Spotify saved the industry from Napster- yes I still remember.

replies(1): >>42470927 #
3. philistine ◴[20 Dec 24 13:33 UTC] No.42470927[source]▶
You don't really remember. Spotify arrived in the US only in 2011. The iTunes Store saved the industry from Napster.
4. big-green-man ◴[20 Dec 24 19:45 UTC] No.42474293[source]▶
I mean, do you feel sad for photographers, painters, digital artists that every stock photo used on every website in the world comes from a stock photo website and wasn't hand made by an artisan? Is it some slight against Duke Ellington that he wasn't selected to write and record the hold music you hear when you call your doctors office? Feel bad for musicians why? They still get their royalties when someone plays their song. It's just they're not getting selected by an algorithm for random background music as often. How is that some wrongdoing against them?