Those Toxic Streaming Stat Graphics

Why I advise clients NOT to post those year-end, streaming stat graphics pushed by Spotify, etc.:

• They are about quantity, not quality.

• It immediately becomes a comparison game when multiple artists publish their stats. The next logical / illogical step would be for artists to start posting their gross income for the year.

• They are yet another way that corporations are turning the world of music into The Hunger Games.

• They promote a music delivery system that devalues musicians more and more every year.

• They imply that people like me, who buy records and CDs and listen to those, don’t count. Even though I pay for music, because they cannot spy on my listening habits, I am not really a fan. Never mind that I paid, say, $15 for a CD. Meanwhile, when one of their users streams a song, they pay that artist just $0.003.

And referring back to this story that was in the news in September about a man who…

"used artificial intelligence to create hundreds of thousands of fake songs by fake bands, then put them on streaming services where they were enjoyed by an audience of fake listeners, prosecutors said.

"Penny by penny, he collected a very real $10 million, they said when they charged him with fraud."

... It is a system that values clicks over people. The charges against him should be thrown out. He gave them what they asked for.