Spotify Wrapped 2021
Hey, everyone. Sorry for the interruption at the start of this article. IndieDB is currently voting on the top 100 new indie games of 2021 and I’d appreciate your help to make Haunted: A Slip Story part of that list. All you need to do is follow the link to the Haunted: A Slip Story page on IndieDB and click the vote button by December 10. Thank you.
***
Every year, streaming music service Spotify compiles data about your listening habits. This is standard for any streaming platform. The difference here is Spotify shares it with you.
Spotify Wrapped is a customized year in review of what you were listening to. My data doesn’t paint a complete picture, as I do jump between Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music between work, research, streaming, and general listening. I was really using Spotify at the beginning of the year before I had to stop streaming and over the summer where I picked it up again.
Let’s take a look at what Spotify said about me and my listening habits.
1) I work to those royalty free beats.
I pay for various subscription services to have access to music for editing, live theatre, and live streaming throughout the year. I’m not always on the same service and some services aren’t as readily available on Spotify. OWN3D is the service I switched to after giving up on the other service/composer in my top five. I stand by my principles in every bit of work I do and hearing that composer discourage people from participating in the Twitch Blackout made me back away for good.
Another great service not included in my top list is Epidemic Sound, which makes sense since I use that more for video editing. Their license is more inclusive to different media and gives you a more unique sound than the YouTube library.
2) I obsess over cast recordings.
This should surprise no one if you’ve been here long enough. The only reason Ride the Cyclone is not in my top five is habit. I’ve had that cast recording downloaded on my phone through Amazon Music since it came out. It was my workout mix for three months as I analyzed, transcribed, and rearranged songs for myself and my students. I’ll pull it up on Spotify on my computer on occasion because sometimes you just need to jam out to “Jawbreaker” and “What the World Needs” until you feel happy again.
tick, tick… BOOM! just started to crack the bottom of the list because of its release date. That’s my new workout mix/everyday soundtrack on multiple platforms as I analyze all the minor changes made to arrangements since the off-Broadway cast recording in 2001. They really did go back to the original rock monologue for the style of this film.
3) I’m a giving person.
When my grandmother passed in September, I had a lot more help than I expected right away. Family and friends came just to sit with me or help out in other ways. I wound up having a huge yard sale that paid for some much needed repairs to the house.
What does this have to do with Spotify? I had just set up my grandmother’s TV with a Roku stick so we could help her watch all her favorite shows on demand. She loved Disney, dramas, game shows, and episodic TV series like Monk. I also set up Spotify. I asked my guests what they wanted to listen to when waiting in the house for people to arrive and they picked the Country playlist that appears on my account. That was streamed for about 10 hours straight between set up and breakdown and never touched again.
4) I don’t always remember my login.
Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy listening to the Race Chaser podcast starring Willam and Alaska. I like Drag Race and I like their perspective on the show. I’m shocked it’s my most listened to podcast. I had a month where I was working out to The Magnus Archives through Spotify. How is something I only listened to three times higher on the list?
Simple. I forgot my login and just created another account. My bad.
And even then, Lore was my background noise/soundtrack for all the travel to and from New York Comic Con this year. The Magnus Archives and Hello from the Hallowoods never stood a chance.
***
Spotify does put a lot of work into this Spotify Wrapped presentation. The Instagram Story-format, with shifting cards breaking down your habits, looks great. They also emailed listeners, podcasters, and artists to share the customized reviews for each account type. I’m not sharing those results here since statistics on which film review (it was Candyman), what deep dive (it was A Nightmare Wakes), or which original song (get into that “Faded Jade” beat) was listened to the most isn’t as wide a net to cast.
If you haven’t done it already, check out your Spotify Wrapped breakdown if you use Spotify. The playlist is accessible on any platform but the actual video presentation is only in the mobile app.