It’s not just consumers who are frustrated by exclusive deals artists and labels cut with streaming services. Following the release of Frank Ocean’s “Blonde,” a report from Bloomberg claims Spotify, a giant in the streaming industry, is punishing artists for striking exclusive deals by burying their music.
The report claims artists who give streaming services exclusive access to new music will no longer have their songs featured on playlists. Worse, their music will reportedly be buried in search rankings, making songs and albums more difficult to find for consumers.
Wait, it sounds like all this corporate bickering is mostly affecting subscribers. What else is new?
Spotify has reportedly employed this tactic, or one similar, for a year now, according to Bloomberg, though it’s unclear how adversely this has affected artists. For artists such as Drake and Frank Ocean, it probably won’t make a difference if Spotify doesn’t promote their stuff.
It could, however, add tension to the tenuous relationship artists already have with streaming services. By threatening to bury an artist’s music, Spotify is attempting to take control of how new content is distributed.
According to Bloomberg, one singer-songerwriter was set to premiere a new song on Zane Lowe’s show on Beats One but decided not to for fear of losing promotion from Spotify.
Source: Bloomberg