Are Spotify the new Gatekeepers in the Music Industry?

There was a brief moment a few years ago when digital technology promised to get rid of record companies and allow artists to directly reach out to audiences.  The band Radiohead were pioneers in doing this when they released their In Rainbows album digitally through their website.  They invited the audience to download it and pay as much as they thought it was worth.  The great hope at the time was that role of the record company as the "gatekeeper" between artist and audience would gradually disappear as digital production and distribution made everything more affordable and accessible and dispensed with the need the record company.

The idea of the 'gatekeeper' is a vital one.  It is the gatekeeper who controls who goes in and who goes out - what artists get signed, when and how the public get to hear about them and how the artist interacts with their audience. Think about the debate sparked by Sinead O'Connor about Miley Cyrus's image and who is responsible for it.  This was added to recently when Charlotte Church spoke out about record company execs convincing her that in order for her to sell to an audience, she would need a more sexualised image. Gabriella Cilmi talks about a similar experience in today's Metro.  The gatekeeper, here, is a very powerful figure and Thom Yorke from Radiohead has recently argued that instead of the record companies, the gatekeeper role is now being taken up by streaming services such as Spotify.  Because Spotify have become so dominant, they have greater control whether your music is heard or not.  If the mass audience are using Spotify to access new music, it makes it much more difficult for artists who are not on the service to get heard.  Read more by clicking on all the links - the more you read, the more case study material you have for the exam.

For those of you unfamiliar with Radiohead, check this out.