Spotify’s Most Streamed

A few days ago, I came across this post on instagram… 

Let’s use our critical lens… 

Can you pick up on a pattern here? Because even spotify does when they explicitly say, “Recognize these guys?” So if you’ve haven’t picked up on the gendered language, let me explain: there are no feminine representations featured here as the main artist. 2015’s most played track? Major Lazer’s “Lean On.” No surprise that once again that the credit goes to men. Yes, of course we have MØ and Kimbra with vocal features, but they’re not the name on the song. 

So what does this pattern have to reflect? Do men tend to make the songs we don’t want to listen to and women tend make songs we don’t want to listen to? Not the case at all. Is Spotify a sexist app that skews our listening habits? Unlikely. What I can gather from this data, is that representation in music continues to lean a certain masculine way. 

Also, of interest to note: 

https://news.spotify.com/us/2015/12/01/drake-is-the-worlds-most-streamed-artist-on-spotify-for-2015/

So following this link, the first category: Most Streamed Artist of 2015. The second? Most streamed women in music (Rihanna.)  I realize that, they make an effort for feminine representation by giving women their own category, but the point I’m trying to make is that we shouldn’t need that category. The fact is that this stems from a larger cultural issue that systematically effects women in music. 

Let’s support, and listen to, women in music! Shall we? 

originally posted on 11 dec 15 at 9pm