Spotify Redux (Quiet Threats + Desperate Flailing)

For this episode, Saxon and Sam check in on Spotify, which is…not in great shape. Even in the best of times, the company was handcuffed to the majors, and threatened by mega-sized competitors like Apple & Amazon. And these, my friend, are no longer the best of times. But it’s okay! They’ll get...faster! And more efficient! And, um, remake their homepage? That’ll do it. Definitely.    Meanwhile, the majors are starting to make noise about the need to change the streaming ecosystem. It used to be about the MUSIC, you know? Now it’s all playlists and independent distributors and fake musicians and false clicks…or something like that. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, financially speaking. We dig into why Universal Music is thinking about ripping up a system that it (more or less) set up in the first place, and what that tells us about the power structure of the industry—and where it might be heading. Come for Saxon’s love of Midnight Oil—stay for a discussion of how this weird, change-filled moment could open a potent space for artistic activism.