Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sparked an online backlash after a social media post in which he said the cost of creating “content” is “close to zero”.
The boss of the streaming giant said in a post on X: "Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content. This has sparked my curiosity about the concept of long shelf life versus short shelf life.
"While much of what we see and hear quickly becomes obsolete, there are timeless ideas or even pieces of music that can remain relevant for decades or even centuries.
“Also, what are we creating now that will still be valued and discussed hundreds or thousands of years from today?”
Music fans and musicians were quick to call Ek out, with one user, composer Tim Prebble, saying: “Music will still be valued in a hundred years. Spotify won’t. It will only be remembered as a bad example of a parasitic tool for extracting value from other peoples music. (or “content” as some grifters like to call it).”
Musicians weighed in too, with Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie Butler saying: “Fuck off you out of touch billionaire.”
They do let you make a playlist now, but only in the app. I imagine it’s something they were working on that didn’t get finished because of the layoffs. I’m real nervous that their new owners are going to shit it all up.
They do have like radio programs, and I think you can have it just play stuff from the music feed. I’m a little more album focused and intentional (ie: I want to listen to X, never a shuffle) so I haven’t needed much more than what they have.
Oh, that’s cool then. I’ll have to go back and take a look as I hardly use the app.
I guess if the new company fucks it up (which lets face it, is a given) at least you get to keep the music you’ve already bought which is more than you can say for Spotify.