Spotify recently held a “Stream On” event where it discussed its accomplishments and its future, but how realistic were the platform’s claims and what does it mean for independent artists?

WordPlay T. Jay watched the event and felt some of the claims by Spotify, while true on the face, were a bit misleading, especially when it comes to independent artists.

The event started with Spotify leaders saying how much more artists have earned because of the service, but in reality, the gains are not as significant as the company makes it seem.

While the internet and streaming service have exposed more artists to listeners, it has also greatly expanded the pool of music people can listen to. It is also easier than ever to create music with today’s technology, leading to a major jump in the number of albums produced annually compared to two decades ago.

For example, Spotify said in 2002, 8,000 of the total 33,000 albums released sold more than 1,000 copies, coming in at 24 percent.

Spotify touted that in 2020, six times that amount of albums sold more than 1,000 copies, which is where the misleading numbers lie.

In 2020, 1.3 million albums were released, and if six times the 2002 number sold more than 1,000 (48,000 albums), that accounts for only 3 percent of the total number released.

“That’s a huge difference, and I don’t really see that as a win for Spotify,” T. Jay said.

As the event went on, Spotify began discussing discoverability changes. The service plans to have discoverability be more driven by algorithms and editorial works, as well as user playlists. For example, if an artist’s work is added to more user playlists, it will become more discoverable overall on the platform.

“I would caution that this is not a catch-all to grow as a musician,” T. Jay said. “You will still have to put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to grow, and Spotify doesn’t help you with that.”

Finally, the company discussed monetization, which showed some interesting figures. According to the company, 57,000 artists get 90 percent of the monthly streams, which accounts for only 0.2 percent of the 25 million total artists on the service.

Monetarily, 800 artists make more than $1 million per year from Spotify, and 7,500 make $100,000 or more.

“In reality, most people shouldn’t quit their day jobs,” T. Jay said. “Use Spotify to let your support grow until you get to a point that it is meeting monetary needs. More artists than normal are getting attention, but that’s not necessarily the same as significant growth and reach.”

T. Jay said Spotify did point out two artists specifically, Lauv and Cautious Clay, that have turned their independent careers into big money, but by and large, it’s the bigger celebrities bringing in the dough.

What are your thoughts on Spotify and the future of the streaming industry?

For more about the “Stream On” event, check out T. Jay’s video below!