Everyone is talking about Spotify today because of their initial public offering. So I thought I’d take a minute to share a few of my favorite Spotify playlists with you.
1) New Music Friday Christian by Spotify
New Music Friday Christian is just one of Spotify’s many, many, curated playlists. What’s great about this playlist though is every Friday Spotify completely updates it with freshly released new songs. Sometimes that’s a good thing–I mean who doesn’t want to be the first to discover the next big hit? Other times that means wading through some songs that defiantly aren’t going to be the next big thing.
2) CEDM: the very best of Christian EDM by Salt Of The Sound
Salt of the Sound might not be the first artist that comes to mind when I say “EDM” but that hasn’t stopped them from building one of the best Christian EDM playlists on Spotify. The electronic ambient duo has compiled a playlist of the best “CEDM” artists you’ve probably never heard of before like Levi Whalen, Har Megiddo, and Marshall Marshall.
3) 2018 INDiE CHRISTIAN by Indie Christian Sound
INDiE Christian Sound start out as a guy sharing his playlists on Reddit and it evolved into platform for sharing independent Christian music. ICS has playlists for hip hop, electronic, worship, and more. My personal favorite though is their yearly indie playlist full of new and upcoming artists.
4) Not Your Mother’s Christian Music by Jonathan Tarlton
Not Your Mother’s Christian Music kind of feels like the granddaddy of Christian music playlists on Spotify–ironic given its name. It was one of the first playlists I followed when I started using Spotify and it’s still being updated weekly. It’s a great playlist for discovering the artists you’re unlikely to here on your local Christian radio station.
5) Punk Never Dies by Indie Vision Music
Anyone who’s been reading Indie Vision Music for awhile now will know we’ve got a fondness for punk rock. That affection has carried over to our Spotify profile in the form of a new playlist titled after the old IVM compilation series, Punk Never Dies. You’ll find a mix of new and old punk on our playlist just waiting you to discover.
Have you got a favorite Spotify playlist? Or maybe you curate a playlist on Spotify. Leave us a link in the comments!
I don’t tend to use Spotify because I like to actually own my music and (more importantly) I want to give artists I listen to as much money as possible – Spotify is crazy with how little they give artists per stream. It blows my mind. I know some artists, like Emery, are pro-streaming but if I enjoy an album I’ll try and buy it from their website (if available) or Bandcamp.
But I can see how these playlists are a good way of finding new music!
The problem is not that Spotify (or Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.) isn’t paying enough, it’s that they are paying major labels too much. Their profit margins are scary thin. It’s a shame that streaming has become the scapegoat for the crooked industry to hide behind while they continue to rip off the very artists that made them. As much as I hope Spotify has a successful IPO, the entire music industry deserves for it fail take all the major labels down with it. Only once they are gone will the little guys get the payouts from streaming that they deserve.
By the way, that’s not a shot at you Tim M, just me venting my frustration with the music industry. You are absolutely right, buying music à la carte is still the best way to support artist (outside of just just giving them money anyway). If you buy a digital download from iTunes 70% goes to the artist/songwriter/label. And on Bandcamp that percentage is even higher. Which is exactly the way it should work with streaming too. Except it doesn’t. With Spotify the same 70% is set aside for the artists just like iTunes. But instead of my $7 a… Read more »
If I were to speculate on the future of streaming I’d bet Spotify has a decent (but not extraordinary) IPO and streaming continues on unchanged for the next several years. Until Spotify tries to use its successful IPO as leverage against the major labels to renegotiate the terms of their deal. At which point either the labels will see Spotify’s value or they’ll fire a warning shot at Spotify by pulling their catalogs from the service. I’d bet on the latter. Which will begin the fragmentation of the streaming industry. Every major label will start their own streaming services in… Read more »
P.S. If you’re old fashioned and prefer downloads to streaming I’ve got a free downloads listicle in the works.
P.P.S. If you’re really old fashioned and prefer vinyl to any of these 21st century technologies start saving your pennies because National Record Store Day is April 21st.
Bro, check out my bandcamp page. Majority of artists I’m following have free downloads. Also, all releases on my wishlist are free as well as the first 8 in my collection: https://bandcamp.com/JesusIsMySuperhero
Great lists, Noah! I myself have several playlists on Spotify as well: 1) Christian Metal 2) Musica Cristiana de Punk y Hardcore en Espanol 3) Christian Metalcore 4) Christian Post-Hardcore 5) Christian Hardcore 6) Christian Ska & Ska Punk 7) Christian Punk, Pop Punk, & Easycore. Here’s the link: open.spotify.com/user/mleal138
Noah do you think emusic’s blockchain venture has any real chance of moving the industry towards a common distribution system?
I don’t know, I read through their essay when they published it and found it very interesting. But honestly was a bit shocked that they wanted to keep 50% of the sales. I mean back in the day of physical retail stores a 50% markup would see fair. But in a digital age it feels pretty high. Apple set the standard for digital retail at 30% 20 years ago. I just don’t see it going back up. As for using blockchain, I still don’t fully understand the technology, but eMusic is absolutely correct about the current system being broken. Something,… Read more »