Wrapping Up the Year with Spotify

Each year, Spotify releases the data for each of its yearly listeners, and what was once a yearly roundup has become a device for determining the spectrum of a person’s personality. Music is one transparent way in which people express themselves, so it's not really weird that people judge others depending on their music taste. But is it ethical? No. People are so deeply complex, and judging someone based off of a list that is fed to the masses via a corporate algorithm is totally wrong.

For example, if Kanye West was within your coveted top five artists, then others may automatically assume it has been a truly unfortunate series of months for you. His music, just like your entire taste, is now widely considered…trash. Although you don’t necessarily have to share your Spotify Wrapped results online, it’s a popular trend to do so. Each year on various social media platforms, people release their music preferences into the bowels of the internet. This is a very intimate aspect of a person’s psyche that is simply thrown out online, and people do it year after year.

People can be ruthless when it comes to music taste, and Spotify wrapped gives everyone a topic to debate — often with no semblance of constructive conversation. Spotify plays into the cruelness of the masses more and each year. For some reason, the algorithm this year was so accurate it practically read your horoscope, signed you up for therapy and decided to give out personality traits all in one go. Imagine the impact this could have on a person in any given place or moment. How are men expected to go to class when they learn that their most listened to artist is Radiohead for the fourth year in a row?

These extra aspects about a listener’s personality that are included into the Spotify wrap are points of connection between closer communities, but can also be used as points of ridicule. While it can be an incentive for other people to look into new genres and musicians, it really is just a field day for critics. Some people would be better off keeping this information to themselves

Music is an individual’s personal journey, so no one should be able to take away that enjoyment of discovery. There is a difference between bullying someone into different genres and letting them weave around at their own pace. If the thought of Spotify Wrapped changes a person’s willingness to discover new music, then it should be optional. Of course, people can just not click the button. However, Spotify allows the Wrapped summary to take up a quarter of the phone screen every time the app is opened. It’s a bit aggressive.

Music means so much to each individual person while also meaning nothing in the eyes of a second or third party. For some people, the beliefs of the artist or band are weighed above the quality of the music. For others, they separate the art from the artist. Not everyone is always on the same page when discussing music, so these discussions can get heated. Spotify Wrapped is simply fanning the flames.