Spotify
Here are the Funniest Spotify Wrapped Memes of 2021
Ah, Spotify Wrapped. Our annual bombardment of personal musical intel that nobody asked for. And since this is 2021, when people decide to force-feed their opinions down our throats like geese for foie gras, we all saw some shocking—and hilarious—results on social media. But therein lies the poetic justice of social media. After Spotify launched its annual Wrapped campaign, the Twittersphere did what it did best in 2021: roast it. Check out some of the funniest Spotify Wrapped memes of the year below. Recommended Articles Spotify’s marketing team sounded like a dorky parent trying to connect with their Gen Z kid. Some saw Spotify Wrapped as an opportunity for self-deprecating humor. And since EDM Twitter never sleeps, others saw it as an opportunity to throw shade. Another...
Kàra Màr Is the First AI-Driven Social Artist to Release an Album On Spotify
Kàra Màr, an AI-powered DJ developed by Sensorium Galaxy, has released their debut album. According to the metaverse company, they are the first AI-driven social artist to release a full-length album on Spotify. While we’ve seen AI artists perform live DJ sets and write songs, we’ve yet to receive an entire album released on the streaming giant. The pounding techno album, dubbed Anthropic Principle, comprises eight instrumental tracks that Sensorium Galaxy says connects Kàra Màr directly to their backstory: Meet Kàra Màr, an AI-empowered virtual artist from Sensorium Galaxy metaverse ahead of their first performance in PRISM World. Cutting-edge look, non-binary gender. As their back-story tells, Berlin-based techno DJ and producer make for a special case in ...
EDM Artists Strike Gold With Spotify’s 2021 Artist Wrapped
Memories fade, but listening history lasts forever. No one knows this better than Spotify, who has rolled out their annual Wrapped campaign. Once per year, this ubiquitous feature comes out of the woodwork to give us a glimpse into the inner workings of our musical minds: Were we happy this year? Were we sad? Who did we turn to? Now in its fifth year, not only does Spotify Wrapped provide a platform for listener self-reflection, but it also gives artists a unique opportunity to see—and share—just how much they accomplished. And in 2021, EDM emerged victorious, with artists taking over social media to thank their fans for their dedication. From the millions of plays they achieved on their tracks to the hundreds of countries their music was streamed from, there’s a lot...
Spotify Nukes Thousands of Comedy Tracks in Battle over Royalty Rights
On Wednesday, November 25th, after business hours closed and Americans looked forward to a long Thanksgiving weekend, Spotify suddenly took down thousands of comedy tracks by Robin Williams, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, Jeff Foxworthy, and more. The move appears to be an aggressive response to new organizations trying to collect literary royalties on behalf of comedians. On November 27th, Birbiglia tweeted, “Random question: Does anyone know why some of the Comedy Central albums got taken off Spotify? 3 of mine are gone, some of Mulaney’s, one of Attell’s, but then some are still there— like Hedberg. Anyone know about any rights things happening behind the scenes with comedy albums?” Earlier this year, Birbiglia signed with Spoken Giants, a rights administration company formed in 2019 to ...
How to Find Your Spotify Wrapped 2021
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not the start of the Christmas season — it’s Spotify Wrapped day! That’s right, it’s what all your listening habits have been leading up to: the day the streaming giant tabulates all your personal data to serve up a custom accounting of your top artists, songs and playlists from the past year. Plus, it’s all presented in a colorfully curated package, perfect for sharing on Instagram. (And while we’re at it, don’t pay any attention to the haters: Only Grinches take time to post about how “no one cares about your Spotify Wrapped.”) While this year’s feature also comes with personalized audio auras (were you “wistful and focused” or “euphoric and bold”?) and a funky display of your top genres, your Spotify Wrapped can sometimes be hard to find. So...
John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia & More Comedians Pulled Off Spotify Over Licensing Dispute
Spotify hosts a large offering of spoken word content on its platform these days, including comedy, podcasts, and poetry along with the music the platform has always been known for. Last week, however, on Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving, the streaming service quietly took down a broad swath of its spoken comedy recordings, including some of major comedy stars like Mike Birbiglia, John Mulaney and Jeff Foxworthy. Sparking confusion and outrage among these affected comedians and their fans, as of Wednesday (Dec. 1), a full week later, the Spotify takedowns remain in place. So why did this happen in the first place? Like music, there are two copyrights for a spoken-word comedy routine. First, the copyright for sound recording itself — for which many comedians collect royalties via SoundE...
You Can Now Easily Find Music From Your Favorite Netflix Shows On Spotify
Forget having to remember that one song from that one show you watched on Netflix. With Netflix and Spotify‘s new partnership, the two media conglomerates offer users access to easily find the music and podcasts within their favorites shows, like the wildly popular Squid Game, which received many electronic remixes and has crossed over into the EDM hive mind. Netflix Hub offers soundtracks and playlists from hit shows like Narcos: Mexico, Stranger Things, La Casa De Papel, and many more. It will also feature podcasts like Netflix Is A Daily Joke, 10/10 Would Recommend, and You Can’t Make This Up. Recommended Articles This partnership is not an advertisement for Netflix on Spotify’s platform. Both companies reportedly identified a strong opportunity to work together ...
Spotify Reveals the Most Streamed Artists, Albums, and Songs of 2021
Christmas Day for music geeks is here: Today (December 1st), Spotify’s 381 million-plus users were gifted with their Spotify Wrapped, a roundup of their most-listened music of the year. Aside from individual rundowns for each user, the streaming giant also unveiled details about the world’s listening habits in 2021. Some of the stats shouldn’t come as a surprise. Much of the world was drinking the Olivia Rodrigo Kool-Aid this year, with her smash hit “drivers license” cruising straight to the No. 1 song in the world. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny took the title of the most-streamed artist globally for the second year in a row, with Taylor Swift and BTS trailing right behind in the second and third spots, respectively. In the US specifically, Drake was the most streamed artist, followed by T-Swift, ...
Four Tet Alleges Domino Removed 3 of His Albums Amid Ongoing Lawsuit
Amid a bitter contract dispute, Four Tet has accused the Domino Recording Company of removing three of his albums from streaming platforms to prevent his lawsuit from progressing any further. “This is heartbreaking to me,” Four Tet tweeted. “People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.” “I considered the people who ran Domino to be my friends and to be driven by trying to create a great musical community,” he added. “As a result Domino own 3 of my albums forever. Music I created that’s important to me and to many of you too.” Late this summer, Four Tet sued Domino for a massive discrepancy in their agreed-upon streaming roya...
Spotify Disabled Auto-Shuffle on Albums, All Thanks to Adele
Spotify has disabled auto-shuffle on albums, and we have Adele to thank for it. Before Friday, shuffle was the streaming platform’s default setting when a user listened to an album. But after the release of the pop star’s powerful new album, 30, that is no longer the case. You can still listen to an album on shuffle if you wish, but you’ll have to do it manually. “This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry,” Adele tweeted, revealing she was responsible for the change. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.” This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much ca...
Adele Single-Handily Got Spotify to Disable Auto-Shuffle For Albums
The enormity of Adele’s stardom can be illustrated in a number of recent headlines. The release of her long-awaited new album, 30, led to a global backlog in vinyl production. On the Sunday prior to 30’s arrival, she was given her very own primetime television special on CBS. And now we’ve learned that the UK singer single-handily forced Spotify to disable its auto-shuffle feature for albums. “This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry,” Adele wrote in response to a social media post from Pop Crave noting the change. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our tracklisting for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.” As Stereogum points out, prior to the change Spotify woul...
This App Generates Your Dream Festival Lineup Flyer Using Your Spotify Playlists
We all conjure dream music festival lineups in our heads, but a new app called Anthems is taking it a step further. When first launching Anthems, the app requests access to your Spotify account. From there, they are able to access your playlists and listening history. Anthems then takes your most-listened-to artists of all-time and constructs a festival lineup comprising a handful of those you just couldn’t stop rinsing. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I learned it would be digging through my crates. But I was pleasantly surprised by all of the selections and would be willing to pay top dollar to check out this lineup, regardless of how strange it would be to see ILLENIUM and Boombox Cartel at a music festival with The 1975 and Ca...
