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Ohs oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Friday, the fifth of December. I'm Emma Gillespie and Tam Klaski. Yesterday Spotify released its annual wrapped feature for twenty twenty five. Now, this is a yearly tradition I'm sure much of our audience is familiar with, where millions of users get to see them most listened to songs and artists for the year, among
plenty of other interesting stats. But alongside these personalized data drops, Spotify also releases starts telling us about national listening trends. And there's been a lot of discussion about one thing this year, the absence of Australian artists from the top of those lists. Today, we are going to explore why this is the case and what we've learned earned from Spotify rapp to twenty twenty.
Five and what an interesting topic for us to dive into on a Friday. It's got a bit of tech to it, it's got a lot of culture and music, and it really is centered around our national identity as a music institution. Why don't we start with Spotify rapped as an idea and as a product. If you aren't engaged with it, give us a sense of what happens on Spotify rap day.
Yeah, so, just in case you were living under a rock or you weren't on social media yesterday. Usually around early December, every year, Spotify releases what it calls Rapped, which is basically a summary of its users listening habits
over the past year. So users at an individual level get to see their top artists, top songs, podcasts, how many minutes they've listened to music, what percentile they're in at, the kind of top end of fandom for their favorite artists, A bunch of really interesting stats.
Just quickly, Who was your top artist this year?
Gang of youths? Of course?
Okay, very cool? Mine was Sam Fender. Both quite similar in the mismai we should hang.
Out yep, very aligned. And I've got to say Spotify has gotten really good at packaging this data up, so it releases it in the form of very sharable infographics. They look really cool, and it's become this huge social media moment. Millions of people post their Wrapped results to their Instagram stories. That is how Spotify has designed it
and for a bit of context. In terms of scale, we're talking about two hundred and eighty one million paid subscribers who are with Spotify globally and that includes some thirteen million Aussie listeners.
So about half of Australia went through a Spotify wrapped moment yesterday. We got the results. A new feature even showed us how old the platform thinks we are based on our listening habits.
Yep, that was a good one.
I'm twenty seven, which I was quite flatted with as a thirty year old.
Yeah, my life flashed before my eyes I read that I'm seventy.
Okay, right, yeah, not good. I'll turn up the font size on this script. What were some of the big takeaways though?
In terms of the music, Yeah, so, the top artists streamed by Australian listeners this year were Taylor Swift, followed by Drake Morgan, Wolland, The Weekend and Billie Eilish. In terms of songs, the number one tracks for Aussie listeners were Ordinary by Alex Warren, followed by That's So True by Gracie Abrams, Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish, Back to Friends by Somber and Bruno Mars, who rounded out the top five for his track with Rose.
So if you look at the artists that have topped both that song list but also the general artists list, am I wrong in saying that they're all American?
Well, technically they're all North America, but you're not wrong. It's a mix of US and Canadian artists that dominate both those lists. They don't include any Aussie performers. I guess there might be a bit of a loophole with Rose, the K pop singer. She was born in New Zealand moved to Australia when she was eight, before moving to Korea as a teenager to pursue her K pop career, So I don't know, maybe there's a loophole there. But otherwise, yep, all North American artists.
And the list is clearly dominated by the biggest names in global music. I want to talk a little bit more about what that means and what we can read into that. Before we get there, though, what Ossie artists did we listen to this year?
So along with these lists of most listen to artists and songs overall, Spotify also crunched the numbers When it comes to our top local artists, the Wiggles came in at number one. Now I think you can imagine probably a lot of parents out there streaming a lot of Wiggles against their will. But congrats to the Wiggles. The list also included the Kid laroi, ac DC, Hilltop Woods and Tame Implor. Interestingly, the top local song for twenty twenty five was riptied by vance.
Joy, which is more than ten years old.
Yeah, it came out in twenty thirteen. In fact, when you look more closely at the top Local Songs list, none of them are actually new releases from twenty twenty five.
Right.
That trend is also reflected in the most listened to Local albums of the year as well, with two records from the eighties making it into the top five. We had Back in Black from Akadaka and Kick from in Excess.
It's quite a striking set of data because clearly, when it comes to new music, Aussie listeners seem to be favoring international tracks. If they do return to their local music roots, it's in more of a nostalgic sense, right, Like it's either for children's entertainment, trying to make the kids be quiet in the back of the car, or it's a throwback to their childhood in eighties or more recent episode of high school back in twenty thirteen.
Yeah, I mean that is certainly how things seem from the Spotify data. We'll get a little bit more into the kind of critical analysis around that, but it's not as though this trend has taken us fully by surprise. Sam. You will know that The Daily Os actually worked with Creative Australia earlier this year to look into listening behaviors of Ozzie fans and the findings from that were really interesting. Only eight percent of the ten thousand top streamed artists in Australia were home grown.
Right.
That's despite thirty three percent of respondents saying they actively seek out Australian music.
So let me throw that back to you. So one in three said they're looking for Ozsie music, but only eight percent of the ten thousand most streamed artists are Aussie. Ye did that research suggest why that could be the case?
Well, Creative Australia looked into discoverability. This is a really important part of the conversation and according to its report, ninety eight percent of Ossie's discover music through streaming platforms, sixty six percent find it through social media, but the report found that discovery tends to skew heavily towards international artists. Now that's what we're seeing reflected in the Spotify numbers.
And when you say discovery in a Spotify sense or any of the streaming apps, really what we mean by that are things like new Songs of the week or things that come across your homepage. They might be in a Fresh Finds playlist. Yeah, that's what you mean by discovery.
Right, absolutely, And these algorithms put together personalized playlists that are updated regularly to the DJ and the at constry and they learn from your listening patterns and you know, ultimately it's the platforms that decide which music to prioritize in those playlists. Now, one of the key findings from Creative Australia was that there is limited visibility of local artists and that is affecting discovery. Young people said they want to discover more Aussie music, but they just aren't
sure where to find it. In fact, sixty six percent said they want to discover more Aussie music, and forty two percent said they would even pay for a streaming platform dedicated to Australian music. So the interest is there, but they don't know where to find it.
Yeah, woll I'd love to see how a local only streaming platform would actually go in market and to see interesting people would actually sign up to that. Are young people less interested in music overall? And did we kind of get a sense from these stats of if we're listening to as much music as ever?
The research shows us that young people are really still interested in music, they really care about it, and they're willing to spend money on music they enjoy. They're paying to see live gigs even with economic pressures. They're prioritizing spending money on live music experiences. So it's not that they're disengaged from music. But there does seem to be a disconnect between live music patterns and Australian streaming patterns.
And we know that the kind of live music is a bit downstream. Like you discover the artists first, you begin to be obsessed with them exactly, then you go and buy a constant ticket and a T shirt. How have local artists responded to these discoverability concerns, particularly in light of yesterday's data.
Yeah, it's no news story that many musicians have these long standing complaints about how Spotify and other similar platforms pay their artists. There are those concerns over discoverability algorithms, and so this data has really reignited that conversation. It's ongoing. But we know some Ossie artists have actually been leaving Spotify or deciding not to release any new music through the platform, and this is a really important part of
the context. So King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, one of Australia's most successful exports, actually removed their entire catalog from Spotify a few months ago. That was in protest of the Spotify CEO and co founder, who's been criticized over his investments in a defense company that manufactures AI military technology. Australian musician David Brady also left the platform around the same time for a combination of the reasons
that I've touched on. Bridy wrote about his decision in The Guardian and said that basically Spotify pays a artists less than one cent per stream, which he called quote insulting and completely unsustainable. Brady wrote this leads to a situation where only the independently wealthy can create music, assuming they're able to fight off the AI generated music currently crowding onto the streaming platforms. He continued, quote, the removal of my works won't make any significant dent in the
company's profits. It won't change my earnings much either, but I can no longer be complicit. So a combination of factors there that he touched on.
So a big day for Spotify. They obviously get a lot of social media attention with everyone sharing their wrapped kind of findings of the year, but they've had to answer some hard questions as well. How did the company respond to these really tricky questions around local music and the listener behavior of Australian users.
Yeah, we did get a statement from Ben Watts. He Spotify's head of music for the Australian New Zealand region, and he acknowledged that global artists have an enormous reach in all markets. Really, but he told TDA that this year we have seen a healthy mix of both homegrown and international music. He said local audiences are connecting with that music and its quote achieving remarkable momentum of its own.
What's continued to TDA that quote Spotify recognizes that it has a key role to play in supporting Australia's music ecosystem. In twenty twenty four alone, we paid over three hundred million dollars to Australian rights holders, with more than half going to independent artists and labels. What said, Australian music is also traveling further than ever, and their global data shows that open platforms like Spotify quote create opportunities for local music to be discovered across the globe.
I think this leaves the Australian music industry in a really interesting spot because it's clear that the core pillars of what makes the music industry great and what makes an artist great have changed, as with so many other industries, particularly by to technology. What's your view on where things kind of stand for Ossie music going forward?
We have this really complicated context. You know, we've shifted away from radio plays and physical record sales as it means to measure the success of artists. We have so much connectedness with the world, and you know, we can listen to artists from any country really within seconds. There are some really positive stories to be told though, and I think it's important to reflect on that Australian dance music,
for example, has seen huge growth. Streams have increased by more than four hundred and nine million compared to last year according to Spotify. And I mean look at rufus Dusol a Sam Kazowski special. The Aussie trio recently set a new record for the most tickets sold by an artist or group for an electronic live tour after seven hundred and fifty thousand people attended their shows this year
three quarters of a million. They're one of three Assiacs nominated for a Grammy at Next Ceremony, along with Ammal and the Sniffers and tame Im Parlor. Of course, so we know local talent is punching above its weight on the world stage. It's just whether or not new talent can emerge. So I think we're going to see this
conversation continue. Discoverability conversations are certainly not going anywhere. We know young people want to find and support ossie artists, they just need better pathways to do that.
And that was a fantastic discussion. And I think that if you want more of this, I think everyone should probably subscribe to your TVA Culture newsletter.
Oh thank you, Sam It's a really good.
Read because it takes us a little bit further than usual on some of these cultural stories. And I think it's a great example of this chat because you've got Spotify wrapped out there in the world. Yesterday it would have been on everybody's social feeds. I love that you've taken us one layer deeper. So thank you for that chat.
A pleasure, Sam, thanks for sharing it with me.
And thank you for joining us on the Daily os this week. It's been a massive week of news here with interviews and streaming discussions. We've got a whole big week of news coming up for you next week as well. Until then, we'll be back with the headlines in the afternoon and chat to you later. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkatin woman from
Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres s right island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present,