Music has a long history of facilitating social interactions. Whether it is by helping form an identity or by displaying an established identity, music is more than just melodious tunes. Such interactions have largely been in-person, through concerts, clubs, pubs, and even sporting events. However, now with the ubiquity of digital communication methods, does music have the same effect on our interactions?
A look into the operational model of Spotify, one of the largest music streaming platforms globally, may help answer this question.
With over 286 million monthly active users, Spotify’s growth has significantly picked up pace over the last decade, amounting to a 35% share in the global music streaming market [1]. This growth particularly followed its introduction of paid student and family plans, which provide some discount to the original premium plan that allows unlimited, ad-free streaming [1].
What is likely to have also allowed Spotify’s growth to outperform that of Pandora, a music streaming platform that was particularly popular in the early 2000s, is its on-demand streaming [2]. While Pandora only allows streaming of music on a curated “radio station” based on a selected song, artist, or genre, one can search for and listen to a specific song whenever he/she wants on Spotify [3]. This feature seems particularly important for cultural events. The song with the most single-day streams on the platform is “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey, which had over 12 million streams on Christmas Eve in 2019 [1]. Similarly, streams of Iceland’s favorite football anthem, “Eg er kominn heim”, increased significantly before and following its first-ever World Cup match in 2018 [4].
This suggests that a particular social aspect of music is still largely present in the age of digital streaming. While, globally, users were not in contact with each other on Christmas Eve or during the World Cup, they all shared the mood established by these tracks. Just as two people seated at separate tables at a jazz club could experience the same rush of uplifting emotions, two people on opposite sides of the globe could rejoice in pride without any direct interaction.
Though, the question of establishing an identity tied to music still remains as this requires some form of interaction. Interestingly, communication between users directly on the Spotify app is very limited and not emphasized by the platform itself. Each user has his/her own public profile that can be used to follow artists and other users as well as display public playlists. However, the profile is housed in the settings menu and there is no real way to discover other users without searching for them or clicking on a profile link shared by other means, such as social media or text.
Spotify likely understands the motivations of its users. While context-based playlists, like a Christmas playlist, is an important factor for Spotify users, content-based music playlists continue to have a greater number of streams [1]. Such playlists include “Today’s Top Hits”, “Rap Caviar”, and “Viva Latino” that, notably, mimic the setlist of traditional radio stations.
Does this mean that music streaming platforms do not contribute to the formation of interest groups like the traditional methods of consumption do? Not quite. In fact, Spotify continues to market its product in the context of social interactions. The company’s Facebook and Twitter banners boldly state “Listening Together” and the posts call on fandoms like BTS ARMY and Selenators to stream tracks from their favorite artists.
It seems that overall trends in music consumption have not changed much from the prominence of digital streaming platforms, but what has changed is the ability to become a part of distinct music communities.
Before, one would buy physical albums and merchandise and go to concerts to connect with others that demonstrated the same loyalty to a music artist. Today, following an artist, contributing to his/her streams, and posting about his/her music is all it takes to establish a connection with a fandom. And these actions are greatly facilitated by the integrations to digital communication platforms provided by streaming services like Spotify.
Thus, as our modes of social interaction have evolved, the purpose of music streaming platforms have evolved with them to continue to facilitate the formation of musical communities.
References
- https://www.businessofapps.com/data/spotify-statistics/
- https://reports.mintel.com/display/860801/
- https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/pandora.htm
- https://newsroom.spotify.com/2018-07-13/the-9-best-moments-from-the-worlds-game-football-as-told-by-streaming-data/
