How Streaming Changes Music. From Spotify’s former ‘Data Alchemist’ comes a comprehensive guide to how streaming has changed the global musical landscape for all genres: and what it means for fans and musicians. Music business insider reveals how its digital revolution affects you

For the first time in history, almost every song ever recorded is available instantly. Pretty much anywhere in the world. For free (albeit with adverts).

Former Spotify data guru Glenn McDonald reveals what music’s digital revolution means for ordinary fans and artists alike.

His insider’s account of how streaming works answers key questions for anyone interested in music, such as how the platforms recommend your next song and why they insist you will love Ed Sheeran (when you definitely don’t)? As well as:

How do you upload your music to Spotify or Amazon?
What are your odds of becoming a rock god?
Can K-pop ‘fan armies’ cheat the algorithm?
Are tech giants be biased against some genres?
Will jazz and classical music eventually die out?

As the only Data Alchemist at Spotify for 10 years, McDonald was at the algorithmic heart of streaming and worked on features enjoyed by 500 million people daily. His book reveals just how much tech companies like Tidal, Deezer and Apple Music know about your online life and what they do with that data.

And about the positive side of streaming: recommendation algorithms mean you can keep discovering new artists and sounds. Statistically, you are not yet likely to have heard the song that will become your lifetime’s favourite.

People listen to markedly different songs worldwide and the book reveals which songs and artists are popular in each country. The author delves into some curios, such as identifying which country starts listening to Christmas songs first each year and when (28th August, as it happens). Is it the Philippines, Norway or Iceland?

And who is winning in the playlist race to be the new Muzak: ASMR or ‘lo-fi beats’?

And just what is russelåter music in Norway?

McDonald is keen to keep on pushing the boundaries of his own music knowledge, ever coming upon new genres he enjoys, such as Zulu maskandi. He wants readers to do likewise.

To this end, the book contains 10 free playlists which are downloadable by QR code. They include one-hit wonders, ‘the sounds of countries’, evergreen songs in the Spotify top 2000, and a ‘random’ playlist generated by number generation.

Lend us your eyes and your ears! You have not yet heard your favourite song.

About the Author

Glenn McDonald, behind the phenomenon Everynoise.com, is expertly placed to provide a comprehensive picture of the global music industry in the 2020s.

Growing up in 198Os and 1990s America, he was an obsessive collector of physical music – CDs and vinyl albums. But he soon realised the revolutionary power of digital media to make songs more widely accessible.

He started doing data work at the US music-intelligence startup The Echo Nest which was soon acquired by Spotify, where he became its 'Data Alchemist.' His website Every Noise at Once (everynoise.com) has an unprecedented computational map of the world’s music genres.

In this fast-paced book, McDonald presents a sweeping, often optimistic though never naïve, picture of how music’s streaming revolution is upsetting and remaking music.

Reviews

"If you want to know anything about how music surfaces today, how to find it, or how to create it, you will find what you need right here. And you will be highly entertained and amused in the process." – Joseph Menn, Washington Post staff writer and author of All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster.

"We used to sell CDs by the weight of pallets, thanks to streaming we know how our content is consumed. In this immersive book, Glenn has demonstrated what we can do with this knowledge, so other industries facing their Napster Moment can learn from his unrivalled first mover advantage" – Will Page, author of Pivot and former Chief Economist of Spotify

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