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  1. Post disappeared, so encore:
    The goose isn’t even plump yet and it’s already time for Spotify’s roundup of my listening habits. What an excellent opportunity to see how you can be misled by statistics!
    One of my favourite bands this year is Ver Beatles because of that one weekend I listened to their albums in sequence (stopping at Magical Mystery Tour, natch 😉). This means I’ve actual made a contribution at the top end of the rather depressing list of most-listened-to bands globally.
    Also, a pat on the back for me as I’ve listened to 431 different genres this year. Yes – there’s no decimal point missing – 431!.
    They could, at least, have given me a laugh by listing them all.
    Any curious stats or accomplishments you wish to report or couldn’t you be arsed..?

        • I spent ages trying to find it. My phone app doesn’t show it – perhaps it needs updating. I’ve now installed it on my tablet and it’s fine. Thanks.

    • You beat me to it – I only listened to 429 genres. Lightweight.
      My stats were fatally skewed because I play a classical playlist for the GLW while she carries out her (lengthy) ablutions. I don’t play much classical for myself. As a result, my top song was Berceuse by Chopin and my top artist Vladimir Ashkenazy. All my top artists and top songs were classical. Might have to get her her own account.

  2. I’ve just received my stats. I fear I am becoming a civilian.

    Van, John Martyn, Joni, Crosby, The Dan, Bob, JJ, Burning Spear, Gregory, Bonnie, Aswad – all very stoner stuff, but nothing has been inhaled.

    The only deviation or ‘new’ is Rory Butler – if you like laid back folk with a bit of jazz give him a spin. And the only reason Joni is there is because this year I ‘discovered’ Night Ride Home.

    I know this list will cause upset at The Quietus.

  3. I have done my stats earlier today & can report I am a big fan of the genre Chamber Psych. I just need to learn what this is now.

    I listened to 2,665 artists over 672 genres & I too want to see a list of these. Pretty sure we can call bullshit on 650 of them!

    Apparently I am in the top 0.05% of listeners for Word favourites Half Man Half Biscuit & my favourite track of theirs is The Coroners Footnote which sounds about right.

    16,079 minutes listening to podcasts was a shock to me. I do have a lot I subscribe too but didn’t think it would constitute that much time.

    120,675 minutes of music. Mainly HMHB, Nick Cave, I Am Kloot, Moby (?!) & Carly Rae Jepsen

  4. My stats ruined by my 10 year old son’s discovery of classic rock – making Dylan, Led Zep and CCR the “most listened to” music of the year. No wonder my “recommended for you” lists are always disappointing.

  5. 1 Tyler, the Creator
    2 Rex Orange County
    3 Bruno Mars
    4 Billie Eilish
    5 Lil Peep

    18,992 minutes listened to these

    (I share my account with my 14 yr old daughter)

  6. 1208 artists in total, 393 new artists and a mere 375 genres.

    Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Ry Cooder were three of my top 5 artists. Tell me something I don’t know….

  8. I don’t have Spotify but looking at the ripped / downloaded music I played in 2020, shows I’ve listened to 4 genres this year – Rock/Pop, Jazz, Classical and World.

  9. My top genre was classical, as I’ve been using Spotify to try and discover Mahler this year.

    Oddly, my most listened to artist is a German guy called Twit One. I wouldn’t say he’s my favourite thing ever, but he creates laid back hip hop which makes very agreeable background music when I’m doing something else. I have a playlist of him that I sometimes just let play endlessly and forget it’s one, so that’s obviously skewed it.

  10. That Nadine Shah piece in The Guardian today about how musicians are ripped off by streaming services has caused me a twinge of guilt that my bit-of-fun thread is, in effect, bigging up Le Spot.
    But it does remind me of an ATM I had on the same subject of doing right by our pop chums which is this: I assume artists get much more wedge if I buy their music on Bandcamp rather than, say, iTunes but is this true?
    Is the only way to be sure to be sure to go to an artist’s own site?

    • Since signing with Spotify, I’ve tried to make sure I buy the same number of albums as I normally would I’ve also found that I’ve gone to gigs because I’ve streamed albums that I wouldn’t have bought.
      The problem this year is that I haven’t been to any gigs since March so not only have I not paid the entrance fee but I would normally have bought a few CDs from the merch table which is another advantage of streaming, you don’t need to buy the new record before the gig.
      I’ve been buying stuff from Bandcamp as I believe the artists get a lot of the cash…. and the artist gets paid within 48 hours.

    • My main take away from the Nadine Shah articles was that musicians are still getting screwed by their record companies on the basis that (a) they are licensing their artists material to streaming services for a pittance and (b) they are passing very little of that pittance on.

      A musician I follow on Facebook has posted a number of articles full of angst about Spotify and how they are robbing him. Which eventually prompted the question “why not take your music off then?”. His response was he’d been told “he’d look unsuccessful if he wasn’t on there” which to be honest seemed pretty lame. In the debate that followed he was adamant that streaming was costing him CD sales, so as long as the revenue per stream was so far below what he makes from physical sales, he’s feels he’s being rinsed.

      I think there’s a flaw in this kind of position. Some music streamed might be a lost download or physical sale, but by the same token some of it is additional revenue – streams from people that were never going to buy a CD or download, or people like me that often end up streaming music they already own, just because it’s more convenient. I get that you’d need a lot of additional streams to cover a far smaller number of lost sales, but there was an interesting contribution from a guy who represents a couple of UK bands who joined Spotify around 18 months before lockdown 1. He said there had been no noticeable downturn in CD and vinyl sales, so the what they took from streaming was a small but welcome extra.

      I appreciate circumstances vary, but I thought it was an interesting nuance to the usual line that Spotify are evil. It’s still evident the best way to support an artist is by buying direct where you can. But when you cant – or already have – leaving your favourite artist on repeat on Spotify while you are out / asleep doesn’t do any harm either.

      • That – your last sentence – is what I thought too, but I was startled to discover there isn’t a straight one-to-one of what I stream to who gets paid and it is the record companies who decide how the wedge is divvied up..

  11. Assuming Bandcamp are persisting with 1st Friday, I am not sure if artists get more, but bc take less so cheaper to the purchaser? Or maybe the bc whack goes to the band instead. Anyone know?

  12. I stopped subscribing to Spotify earlier in the year because I rarely use it. I’ve got enough music (said no music fan ever) to listen to and enjoy without trying to discover new genres or whether or not Quitetus favourites, Trilby Athlete are my bag.

    Though recently, I’ve been listening to the ‘worst’ Dylan albums, to see if they’re really as bad as made out.

    • I have a tendency to mix up posters, but aren’t you the youngest person on here, TJ?
      If you’ve already got enough music to be getting on with I don’t know how you expect The Man to flog it to you again in a new box in 30 years time..?

      • I’m young enough that ‘Three Lions’ was the first single I ever bought. Mainly due to Covid-19 related reasons, I’ve not set foot in HMV all year. I’ll no doubt look at the Best of 2020 lists and they’ll be something that I like the sound of on those – last year it was Weyes Blood for example.

  13. I fear I am worryingly “hipster” these days. But my top tune this year is (drum roll)…

    1) We Have Come To Bless The House by Severed Heads

    Followed by

    2) The Free Life (A) by Alan Parker

    3) Beautiful Face by The Aliens

    4) Weird Fishes/ Arpeggio by Radiohead

    5) Olsen by Boards Of Canada

    Of these five tunes, one is by Boards of Canada and two are on a mix tape made by Boards Of Canada. Another is made by (I suspect) friends of Boards Of Canada.

    But Radiohead? Didn’t realise I played that one quite as much…

  14. As I’ve not got the Spotify Wrapped. I will list the 7 albums I’ve listened to most* between 2016 and 2020.

    1. God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
    2. The Beatles – Please Please Me (2009 Stereo)
    3. Can – Future Days
    4. Johnny Cash – The Best of Johnny Cash
    4. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
    5. Green Day – Dookie
    6. The Lemon Twigs – Do Hollywood
    7. Now That’s What I Call Music 41 (Disc 2)

    *according to and chosen by iTunes.

  15. I share my Spotify with my kids – 19, 17 and 14. I can therefore pretend that I am far more eclectic than I am.

    677 new artists – 453 genres. My part in this is probably 3 at the very most on both.

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