My Generation Column on Spotify Statistics: My Enjoyment of Music Is Based on Exploitation

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Every year at the end of November, music streaming service Spotify releases “Spotify-Wrapped” – your personal review of the year – to all listeners. It shows you what music and artists you listened to the most this year, as well as your other listening habits. One of my personal annual events.

This is despite the fact that Spotify makes no secret of the fact that they are shamelessly tracking me and my consumer behavior. Finally they sell me my data in a colorful package and I accept it with gratitude because all the attention is focused on me and the uniqueness of my exquisite taste in music.

But the joy does not last long. This is not a surprise for this company. Because, sorry, but Spotify’s business model is based on exploitation. Most artists can only afford breakfast and, if things go well, half of dinner from their streaming earnings.

The fact that Spotify wants to stroke our egos and make us forget all this injustice with its annual review is a smart marketing ploy. But this only works halfway: precisely because we already know it all!

The emotional pendulum of my generation swings again between extremes, between excessive self-centeredness and the unbearable weight of world-weariness. With everything good, with everything that gives us joy in terms of consumption, something evil is attached.

This discrepancy accompanies my hyper-informed generation, not only in the case of Spotify, but in almost all matters, and often leads to a foggy attitude towards life. Because: How can we live a contented life knowing that our joys are based on the exploitation of other people?

Noah Dibbeysi (21) studies social sciences at the University of Bern. She writes to Blick every other Friday.

Source: Blick