Spotify Wrapped is free advertising that says nothing about the joy of music

 

 

"I’m not being a snob – I was a late-in-life One Directioner – but often what Wrapped claims to uncover is obvious to the individual, and unedifying for their friends and followers. Sometimes the numbers are so sweeping or skewed as to be meaningless: Call Me Maybe was in my most-played songs last year because I wrote about its 10th anniversary, and this year there will be Blinding Lights again (the most-streamed song in the world in 2020), because I sometimes listen to it on single-song repeat to motivate me to meet a deadline.

Neither are musical memories to cherish – but it’s this kind of functional engagement that Spotify recognises and, with Wrapped, rewards. The platform has already cemented music as a numbers game: witness how streaming-savvy Drake can have the biggest album in the world without any ubiquitous hits, and how global fan armies strategise to drive singles up the charts. Wrapped, likewise, presents listening to music in terms of scale: top five songs, top artists, top genres, total listening time, even which percentile of an artist’s fans you’re in. Is being in the top 1% a point of pride, or a mark of monomania? What is listening time really a measure of, anyway?"

read article by Elle Hunt

Spotify Wrapped is free advertising that says nothing about the joy of music | Music | The Guardian: