In today’s era when streaming media dominates music consumption, algorithms have long become the key to the visibility of works and the direction of artistic creation, especially for experimental music whose audience is already niche. I want to study two platforms represented by Spotify and Bandcamp. The operation models of these two platforms interest me a lot. One is more mainstream and the other is more independent. The algorithms and business logics among them also interest me a lot.
When I listen to music on these two platforms, my feelings are completely different. Spotify will push many popular works. Even if I’m not interested in the hit singles and popular songs, it will still push them to me. Personally, I have a better experience listening to music with Bandcamp. Because its push content will be more diverse.
In my initial adjustment, I found that Spotify’s algorithm prefers mainstream content, with 90% of the traffic concentrated in the hands of 1% of top artists. Bandcamp, on the other hand, prefers the direct purchase model by fans, which provides a sustainable economic ecosystem for niche communities.
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