Is there a way to get Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, to take any notice of you? Well, unless you’re Sofia Levander – she’s his wife and most men can verify you ignore the missus at your peril – the answer appears to be no. From calls to pay more to artists to uproar after he told them to release more music, he’s a man whose ears are impervious to criticism.
But this weekend, the world discovered that there is a second way to get Spotify’s billionaire tyrant to listen to you. And that’s if your name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE – known professionally simply as Adele. The brilliant but annoying singer pops up every couple of years, appears all over the media, then disappears again to count her money.
Well, she released an album the other day, simply called “30”. I had no intention of listening to it, but I just might force myself to do so after Adele managed the impossible. She got Daniel Ek to actually do something – remove the auto-shuffle option for albums.
In Adele’s own words…
This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening 🍷♥️ https://t.co/XWlykhqxAy
— Adele (@Adele) November 21, 2021
Two possibilities here. One, Daniel Ek foresaw a big campaign playing out across social media if he refused the demand and agreed to it for the sake of a quiet life. Or two, he’s just starstruck.
Either way, perhaps Adele could use her newly discovered powers to get some other things out of Spotify. Like more money for artists, for example. A penny per stream sounds good. In your own time, Adele…
