115 Billion Streams
If Spotify CEO Daniel Ek were a musician, he would need 115 billion streams to earn the money he made by selling stock of his company. No actual musician has ever come close to that number. Before this makes your blood boil, it is worth noting that this money comes from the stock market, not from Spotify’s operational income. In other words, it is an advance payment by investors who drove Spotify’s market capitalization up to 68 billion because they believe the company has a great future.
That enthusiasm is triggered by the news that Spotify is on track to make a net profit this year. They achieved that goal by increasing their subscriber base and cutting costs. Obviously, the company will continue on that path and generate more money for its investors, including Ek and other executives.
Unless you own significant Spotify stock, there is little reason to be happy about that. The streaming service will try to place itself even more squarely between the creators and the consumers. Driving costs down also means paying less for content. I’m sure that AI-generated content plays a significant role in Spotify’s future plans.
On the other hand, Spotify does not only not own the content it sells, but it also doesn’t build the hardware or the network necessary to deliver its services. They don’t run their own data centers either – Google does this for them. Running an operation at that scale is undoubtedly hard, but not rocket science anymore for quite some time: Google, Amazon, and Apple are running similar services as side-businesses. Spotify did not even invent the idea of the all-you-can-listen service; Rhapsody did this in 2001. So it is a mystery why Spotify has become synonymous with digital music streaming everywhere, including here at glamglare.
Content streaming should be a utility run by faceless organizations, optimized to pass as much value as possible to the creators. We don’t need a glitzy Wall Street darling designed to generate money for its investors. Our culture and art are far too precious to be used to make a few people very rich.
glamglare favorites
Listen to glamglare favorites on ~Spotify~ or below on YouTube.
Last week, we had five experimental electronic musicians. This week, we counter with indie rock, a genre that lately feels fresh again. All five artists hail from New York City and only Camile Schmidt we have not yet seen live.
Song Pick of the Day
Listen to/watch all seven songs on [YouTube](Link Here). Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Pick of the Day features. Thank you for following us and sharing the excitement.
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- October Drift - https://www.glamglare.com/music/october-drift-tyrannosaurus-wreck/
New Albums Out This Week
We did not have previews of the four albums that will be released tomorrow, but judging from the already-released tracks, we are up for some serious treats:
Nine Photos: Kelly and Wangechi
Welsh musician Kelly Lee Owens makes elegant dance-pop, and Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutucreates mythical sculptures. Their work came together on an unforgettable evening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Photos: Elke Nominikat
