This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Fainite Auguste. Find her on Instagram at @ceilingdancing. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Spotify is part of millions of people’s daily lives, including mine and probably yours.
What is Spotify?
Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and recently an audiobook service that gives users access to millions of songs, and other spoken word entertainment from creators worldwide. There are several different kinds of accounts available for users. The first is Spotify free, the biggest issue with this tier is the inability to skip songs. Spotify allow users 6 free skips every hour, which is not enough. There are also dozens of ads in-between songs. Some people speculate that the longer people use Spotify free the more ads there will be. This Reddit user claims they’ve listened to 30 ads every couple of songs.
The other tiers are individual ($10.99 a month), Student ($5.99 a month), Duo ($14.99 a month), and Family ($16.99 a month). They all have very specific uses. For example the individual tier gives users access to the audiobook library while the student tier gives people access to a Hulu account. It all depends on what the user wants. Unfortunately there is no tier that has every feature. This is clearly a tactic to gain more money from people.
Despite the costs, the platform has over 600 million users. But why did Spotify capture the hearts of millions of people? Is spotify a social media site now? Is it more than just a l listening platform?
The Rise of Spotify
Spotify was released on October 2008. It wasn’t until four years later in 2012 that the streaming service gained success. It reached 20 million users and 5 million of which were premium subscribers. Spotify managed to not only keep their user base but grow by making things personal. In 2013 it released “Discover Weekly” which gave recommendation to discover new artists.
Spotify also creates personalized playlists or “Daily Mixes.” Users can make their own playlists and discover other users public playlists. This is one of my favorite features of Spotify. I have spent most of my teen years living vicariously through other people. People have created playlists for specific scenarios like breakups, parties, first dates, or moving cities. There is a private playlist feature in which users can create playlists together.
The biggest feature and most anticipated on the platform is Spotify Wrapped.
Spotify Wrapped
Spotify Wrapped is the yearly musical statistics of every user. It was first released in 2016. The tracking begins January 1st and ends October 31st. it’s released in December of every year. Wrapped comes in the form of an aesthetic slideshow, it’s colorful and interactive. The lists consists of the users top artists, songs, and genres. Taylor Swift was my top artist the past three years in a row. Artists also record thank you videos for the top listeners to watch. Additionally, Spotify creates one big playlists of the top songs the users listened to that year.
It is a trend for people to share their Spotify Wrapped. Spotify encourages this as the add a share button. Some people even maliciously listen to certain songs all year to create the most aesthetic Spotify Wrapped. The idea of not participating in sharing the data doesn’t even cross people’s mind. Which just reiterates my belief that the personal experience is dead. Spotify Wrapped is simply data, but if users lie it defeats its purpose.
The Fall of Spotify
Spotify’s biggest competitors are Apple Music and Amazon music. Although I haven’t used Apple music in a few years I recall the app as straightforward. Spotify is starting to feel more like social media (that users pay for) than a music streaming service. Since 2019 Spotify has allowed artists to add video onto songs. Which in theory is a good idea, it keeps the users in the app longer to watch the short clips. But most people just want to use another app while the song plays or have their phone off. I’m predicting in a few years Spotify might add more social media features Direct Messaging.
Spotify released AI DJ in 2023 which was a big mistake. People are having severe AI fatigue. When it first was launched it wasn’t the best at picking songs that align with users. Or would chose a song someone hasn’t listened to in months.
The app has had its ups and downs but is it on its way out? I think It will take a little more than some bad AI for Spotify to go out of style.
What do you think: is spotify a social media site? Let us know in the comments below!
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