One of the most profound cultural casualties of the Spotify era, according to its critics, has been the slow death of the album as a cohesive art form. The “Death to Spotify” movement is, in many ways, a fight to reclaim the album from the tyranny of the playlist and the shuffle button.
Spotify’s interface and algorithms are overwhelmingly geared toward the individual track. Songs are treated as modular units to be plucked from their original context and reassembled into endless, mood-driven playlists. This fundamentally changes the way music is created and consumed. Artists may feel pressure to make every track a potential single, sacrificing the narrative arcs, dynamic shifts, and experimental deep cuts that make a great album.
This de-emphasis on the album format is a core part of what critics mean by the “flattening of culture.” It discourages the kind of deep, sustained listening that an album requires. It trains our brains for a form of musical channel-surfing, where we are always looking for the next quick hit rather than immersing ourselves in a complete, 30-to-60-minute artistic statement.
The alternatives championed by the movement are all album-centric. Buying a vinyl record is the ultimate album experience. Bandcamp’s layout defaults to the album page, encouraging listeners to see the tracks as part of a whole, complete with artwork and liner notes. These platforms respect the album as the artist’s intended statement.
By pushing back against the playlist-ification of music, the movement is making a stand for a different kind of listening. It’s a call to return to the album not just as a collection of songs, but as a journey, a story, and a complete world created by an artist. It’s a fight to ensure that this vital art form does not become a relic of a bygone era.