Spotify Discovery Mode could reduce everyone’s streaming income, destroy algorithm explains this 1-minute TikTik

A growing group of artists and independent labels are pushing back against Discovery mode, the paid placement opportunity which Spotify launched late last year.

Rather than giving artists input into recommendations at no cost, as Spotify For Artists does with most features, or charging as part of its ‘two-sided marketplace,’ Spotify will pay artists that opt-in to Discovery Mode a lower royalty for recommended ‘promotional’ streams.

The objections are not just about the cost to artists of receiving a lower royalty rate. Their concerns extend to the effect that paying for some streams has on all streams which they say will reduce artists’ collective streaming income and destroy how Spotify’s algorithm surfaces tracks.

This TikTok shared by A2IM explains.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.