Before I go any further, “YES, this is payola”, it happens in music all the time, Spotify is just brazen enough announcing their version of it! Now that we’ve cleared that up, Spotify has Balls is steel to even speak on this like it’s “for the artists”, it’s not!
Let me explain https://twitter.com/thefader/status/1323340529883643908

Spotify pays out $0.00437 per stream. For an artist to earn $1,472 they would need to stream 336 842 total plays.

If they were for the artists they would increase their payout rate per stream, not decrease it.

Here’s a thread on streaming figures https://twitter.com/sirprincejhb/status/1298311842394247170

What this new feature does is it opens the door for even more pillaging of artists by labels who are already in bed with Spotify. How so? I’m glad you asked. This new feature ultimately benefits Spotify and labels because they don’t share data with artists. Data is the new Gold

Artists have been crying for Spotify to change their methodology and practices to be more artists centric and this announcement is a clear fuck you to artist.

Read about the Justice at Spotify campaign here: https://www.thefader.com/2020/10/27/union-musicians-allied-workers-justice-at-spotify-campaign

Remember the new feature isn’t free and ultimately it’s the artist who pays for it while the labels and Spotify benefit (artist gets ‘exposure’ of priority placement). Evil geniuses I tell ya!

This is the evil underbelly that @JoeBudden @MAL___ @thisisrory spoke of and speak of all the time, these platforms are quick to say they are for the artist but their business says otherwise!