Spotify Newsletter #85

Your Weekly Dose of Spotify News

Nov 24, 2021

It’s a short week due to the holiday so we are delivering the Spotify Newsletter a few days ahead of schedule.

We weren’t expecting a deluge of news, but this deal about Adele ordering Spotify to tweak its play button to stop shuffling was interesting.

You can still turn on the damn shuffle mode from the ‘Now Playing’ view - if you so desire -, but you’re probably going to upset Adele.

Adele asked Spotify to change this feature, citing that albums should be listened to in a specific order.

I think it’s nonsense. Am I really going to miss all the joy, heartache, love, and passion baked into the songs on ‘30’ if I listen out of order?

She tweets: “Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended.”

So…. hearing “I Drink Wine” last instead of second in the playlist order - as Adele intended - is going to wreck the entire artistic endeavor of ‘30’?

Pete Townshend doesn’t ask me to listen to ‘Tommy’ start to finish to fully appreciate his genius.

It’s preposterous, but Adele has a vision, apparently, and we’ll just have to adjust listening habits when it comes to submerging ourselves into the high art venture that is Adele’s latest album — if we want the genuine experience as Adele designed.

It’s a personal choice, obviously, so shuffle away (as I will) …. but this idea that an album must be listened to top to bottom or you will lose out on the meticulously crafted narrative the artist has dreamt up as you push play to be swept away into a musical nirvana just feels a bit silly.

But at least the minor kerfuffle jazzed up an otherwise slow week of news even though the audio giant did drop a few items of note.

To illustrate the singer’s massive industry power, Spotify dealt with the request rather quickly — honestly, she could have requested just about anything and the Spotify team would have gladly obliged.

Spotify @Spotify

@Adele Anything for you 🙏✨

Onward and upward. Thanks to all for reading this week. Next week we’ll be back to our usual Friday schedule. Have a great rest of the week and weekend! 😀

★In the SPOTlight★

⭐️ Spotify unveils a new hub for Netflix soundtracks, playlists and podcasts

Listen to the 'Squid Game' theme, along with podcasts like 'Netflix is a Daily Joke.'

⭐️ Spotify’s play button stops shuffling, apparently because Adele said so

Now, when you hit “Play” in Album View, songs will play in order — that is, as long as you have a Premium subscription. You can still enable shuffle mode by toggling on the “Shuffle” icon when viewing an individual track.

⭐️ Spotify is taking aim at the karaoke industry

Conquering the worlds of video and podcasts is important to Spotify, but its core business is still music and the fans who love it. To that end, the company has rolled out a feature that displays lyrics to all users and on most platforms including smartphones, tablets, desktops, and smart TVs that support the Spotify app.