Wrapped season is here, and your favourite artists are all about it. Charli xcx shared her Bladee-topping list. Shygirl is among those still riding for Radical Optimism. Loraine James has been loving Miami rap princess Cortisa Star.
The glossy gamification of your personal data almost makes you forget that, while Spotify has always unequivocally sucked for artists, the Daniel Ek-owned monolith has given smaller musicians a particularly raw deal in 2024. Per the company’s new royalty payout system, rolled out in April, songs must reach a 1000-stream threshold to become eligible for payouts. And, as The Verge reported in November, the artist pages of Annie, HEALTH and Swans are riddled with AI slop.
None of which makes posting, sharing and arguing in your group chat about your friends’ Wrapped lists any less fun. To mark this year’s Spotify Wrapped, i-D spoke with five artists, insiders and music industry experts about the inarguable rise of Wrapped season, its power as a PR tool and whether it really matters in 2024.
Casper Mills, Global Product Manager, 4AD: Impossible to keep up with releases at the moment, so it helps me keep track of what I even liked or listened to 2 months ago let alone 11, so I love how it functions in that way. Basically it matters to me on a personal basis but generally dislike the broader marketing and sharing habits that it encourages. I do think it’s quite sterile in how it quantifies what you’ve loved into pure number of listens, kinda removes the underlying emotional connection one has to certain pieces of music. There’s so many songs I’ve loved but maybe have caught me at the wrong time and didn’t turn into pure obsession, but that doesn’t mean they mean any less to me.
Theo Fabunmi-Stone, Scenic Route: “From an industry perspective I’m not sure it matters that much, not sure labels etc do much with that info. I think from a personal user experience, I like it — it’s a pretty nice way of wrapping up what you’ve been listening to. Outside the top artists/songs for the year, the rest feels less relevant. Probably feels like a good PR campaign for softening Spotify’s monolithic image.”
Margeaux Labat, Music Content Creator: “For the most part, I think that Spotify Wrapped is just really fun and pretty harmless. People aren’t really keeping track of what they listen to, so it’s kind of a time capsule of how their year was, whether or not they listen to good music. Every year, Wrapped is a time for people to speak out against Spotify, but I’m kind of like, let people have fun and don’t guilt people. For a lot of people, Spotify is the most accessible way to discover new music, both for its digital catalogue and the price point. A lot of people can’t afford to buy new records every time they listen to new music when they have to think about rent or food. Being a physical music collector these days is a luxury. I’m not pro-Spotify, I’m not anti-Spotify, because it’s been a huge part of my discovery journey, and I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”
Flo Dill, The Breakfast Show on NTS: “I think it’s fun and interesting for people in the same way that star signs are — ultimately meaningless but a way to think about and understand yourself and your habits, and to show people — look, this is who I am. I don’t think it matters more broadly except to cement Spotify’s reputation as THE streaming service, and gamify its usage so as to encourage it further. If you hate Spotify, as many people do, this matters because it contributes to its success.
Lindsey Jordan, Snail Mail: “Yo tbh i have no opinion on this.”