Jabari Evans – then known as Naledge of Kidz in the Hall – used to hand out demos on the streets of his native Chicago, bringing physical CDs to record label lobbies in bright-eyed hopes of discovery. Nearly 20 years after his first studio album, up-and-coming artists with the same hope are having to reluctantly rely on the streaming algorithms of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music - an often frustrating and opaque landscape.
“If someone were to even hand me a CD, I would laugh at them,” Evans said. “I would think it was a joke, right? So, it's just a different time.”
Spotify’s algorithm – an AI interface other companies such as Apple and Amazon have since adapted to their apps – is designed to suggest music users will like based on their platform engagement and general listening habits, according to a University of Southern California article exploring its success predicting user’s wants. Due to its focus on engagement, Spotify is more likely to recommend established artists with more saved playlists, liked songs, and followers. In short, it often encourages big artists to get bigger, and small artists to feel left behind.
Evans, now a race and media scholar at the University of South Carolina, has seen this impact firsthand.
“There's only a few people that we're actually listening to, and a lot of that has to do with algorithms,” Evans said. “A lot of that has to do with money and capitalism, and a lot of that also has to do with the ways in which AI technologies are still being geared in certain directions by certain people with power.”
On top of the lack of exposure given to smaller artists on streaming, both streaming and social media algorithms are changing the creative process.
“Becoming a musician, getting a record deal or becoming famous has always been precarious,” Evans said. “It's always been difficult to do, but I think with AI technologies, we're now seeing the humanity can be taken out of creativity, and that's scary to a certain extent.”
Charlotte Rice, USC student and lead singer of local band Som’ Bout, can feel the economic and artistic pressure algorithms have placed on the music scene.
“There’s lots of tension between the artists and streaming platforms,” Rice said. “Streaming platforms definitely favor the Taylor Swifts and Billie Eilishes of the world that get millions and millions of streams.”
This pattern has caused some musicians to turn to third party “playlist pusher” sites, such as Groover or Playlist Push, which promote music through popular accounts on Spotify, TikTok, or other platforms where songs are shared. However, artists pay no small price for the favor.
“You’ll pay hundreds of dollars,” Rice said, who has helped friends hire these services. “It’s like, not only do we not get paid, sometimes you have to pay just to be heard at all. So, a lot of it just falls on your ability to promote yourself, which a lot of times, artists don't want to do, right?”
Social media algorithms hold the key to many artists' success, but the blurring line between musician and content creator is something many artists are unwilling or unable to cross.
“Now it's just post on social media three times a week at least and hope for the best, which I just kind of refuse to do,” Rice said. “I have to remind myself to not cater my art to a big bad algorithm and just make what I want, because otherwise it would just be kind of suffocating.”
Toni Esther, a Columbia-based rap and neo-soul artist, knows this push-and-pull well, and feels as if social media content is one of the only - if uncomfortable - options available to share her music.
“People see you on the Internet and they think that that’s you,” Esther said. “It’s not me at all. I hate talking in front of people, I hate doing certain things, but on the Internet, I have to. It’s like, ‘No, you have to do this because we need to know who you are.’”
Though Esther has a slightly more optimistic view of Spotify, her relationship with the platform remains complicated.
“I think it is beneficial to us of course, being on Spotify. You know, people can hear me over in a whole different country, right?” Esther said. “But that's not all the time. Maybe that's maybe once in a blue moon where you would probably get that recognition from other people in different states and even different continents.”
In addition to utilizing Spotify, Esther and other artists are joining platforms like Bandcamp – an audio distribution platform that allows artists to set their own prices for music or merchandise, with an option to pay more if the listener chooses - to increase revenue and exposure. According to a report published by e-commerce data platform Store Leads, the site now hosts over 250,000 active storefronts.
“I wish that platforms like that were on the spectrum of Spotify, but you know the powers that be, you know that’s not the case,” Esther said. “It makes me kind of question, is Spotify really for the artist?”
WUSC Music Outreach Director Issac Czerniawsky has conflicted feelings about what they’ve observed of the platform-artist relationship, despite having described their Spotify listening experience to be positive overall.
“It used to work. It was a really popular marketing campaign to have your songs added to a playlist, or to, like, create a playlist for, like, the community that you're coming from,” Czerniawsky said. “But a lot of people have said that that's kind of ineffectual, and that like, Spotify - unless you are paying to push it - isn't really allowing those playlists to come to light.”
Senior USC student Gracie Anderson has long relied on Spotify to provide her with custom mixes for her eclectic taste, but she has noticed a difference in the platform in the last year.
“I feel like I don't find a lot of new artists as much as I used to that I like listening to,” Anderson said. “There are less songs recommended to me that I'm like, wow, I really like this.”
Anderson is not alone in this feeling. Discussion of Spotify’s user experience exploded following backlash from 2024’s Spotify Wrapped – a personalized report that recaps listeners’ habits throughout the year. The shift coincides with massive layoffs by the company in December 2023, when the streaming giant cut 17% of its workforce.
Though this new music scene may seem daunting, some Columbia musicians are focusing on community in the face of an uncertain future.
“Sometimes you need to just play a real show with real people, and, you know, not have your phone and kind of remind yourself what you're doing it for,” Rice said. “There's a lot more positive interactions when you focus on that, and it seems a lot less bleak.”
Hi! Im DJ Syd V. I’ve been a member of WUSC and The DJenerates (the show I co-host) since 2023. I love music, chaotic conversation, and talking into the void - all of which you can expect from our show! I hope y’all have as much fun listening as we do broadcasting.