Over its first two decades of existence, as Spotify moved from in-house playlisting into its next act as a personalization engine, it became increasingly concerned with shaping user behavior on the platform—which is to say, influencing listening habits, because Spotify benefits when we stream content that’s cheaper for them to provide. Internally, the company looks at a metric called “programmed streamshare”—the percentage of total listening influenced by its recommendations—and aims to make that metric increase. This should concern listeners for reasons that go beyond matters of personal
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