Final 12 months, former Spotify chief economist Will Web page compiled a report for the Australia Institute that concluded music streaming algorithms have been “killing” Australian music.
The report discovered that, between 2021 and 2024, there was a 30% drop in Australian artists within the prime 10,000 artists streamed in Australia on platforms corresponding to Spotify, YouTube and Amazon.
“The algorithms of streaming providers may recognise language, however they ignore geography, which suggests native music is just not sometimes beneficial to Australian audiences,” Web page mentioned.
These claims of lowered visibility resonate with Australian musicians, who’re involved their music could also be much less favoured than the work of extra standard international artists.
We fact-checked these claims in new research commissioned by the Victorian Music Growth Workplace, with a deal with Spotify.
Whereas we didn’t discover proof of Australian music being “killed” by AI, we did discover algorithms perpetuating circumstances that make it troublesome for less-established artists to interrupt onto the scene.
How AI shapes streaming
The target of streaming platforms is to maximise consumer engagement. Spotify does this by permitting customers to find new music in varied methods, together with by handbook search and exploration, editorial (human-made) playlists, and AI-recommended playlists.
Algorithms have been criticised for amplifying the affect of superstars – and the company pursuits that assist them – whereas additionally doubtlessly narrowing listeners’ musical preferences.
Spotify’s AI does have a significant influence on the listening habits of its subscribers. However is that this an issue?
For a lot of customers, AI-recommended playlists are merely handy. As an alternative of deliberately trying to find new music, they are happy to be beneficial tracks they could like.
On the similar time, there are issues algorithmic bias could profit sure artists over others.
Our findings
Our research, performed in February 2025, concerned analysing 2.27 million music tracks utilizing Chartmetric’s real-time analytics platform.
Our dataset included 12,333 artists and 5,000 editorial and AI-mediated Spotify playlists from seven English-speaking international locations: america, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Eire and Jamaica.
Our findings point out that AI‑generated Australian playlists closely depend on international listening patterns. They’re additionally much less seemingly than editorial playlists to floor various or regionally particular music. This matches the AI suggestions sample for the UK market.
AI suggestions intensify US dominance by reproducing US tastes as international “norms”. Our examine confirmed the composition of AI playlists in all international locations is similar to these of the US.
This means the US – a a lot bigger market than Australia and the opposite international locations – generates a music footprint that dictates the worldwide traits.
The AI playlists in our pattern drew from solely 1 / 4 as many distinctive tracks because the editorial playlists. This additional reveals how AI playlists, basically, are extra concentrated and fewer prone to suggest native music.
AI’s tendency to suggest “acquainted” music additionally favoured artists from dominant markets such because the US. In our pattern, 77% of the US tracks have been produced by “established artists”, representing three Chartmetric categories (legendary, famous person and mainstream).
In distinction, solely 22% of Australian tracks have been being produced by established artists. The artists behind the opposite 78% of Australian tracks are much less prone to be beneficial by AI algorithms.
Filter bubbles
Over time, AI playlists – which usually tend to push established US artists – are fed again to customers in a loop. This provides extra publicity to already standard artists, and additional disadvantages much less established ones – resulting in a “wealthy get richer” dynamic.
These circumstances make it troublesome for up and coming acts to interrupt by Spotify’s recommender techniques.
One answer could be for Spotify to tailor its AI algorithm to actively enhance less-established artists. However for now, the inside workings of the algorithm stay considerably hidden.
This text is republished from The Conversation underneath a Inventive Commons license. Learn the original article.
