Early this week, Spotify Wrapped 2021 started being shared on social media. Wrapped is Spotify‘s personalized analysis of your listening habits on the streaming platform.
The streaming giant launched Wrapped in 2016. It wasn’t made to be shared on social media platforms like Instagram Stories.
Wrapped was a mini-site and Spotify sent it as an email link. They later added a dedicated spot in the app.
You can now also share those insights on Instagram with cringy captions which I totally loved like
“While everyone was trying to figure out what NFTs were, you had one song on repeat”
“In a year like 2021, even your music gets a vibe check”
“You always understood the assignment”
This in-app experience sees a lot of engagement during this period with figures reaching up to 60 million users(2020) – these figures could be higher this year.
Spotify Wrapped Story format was created in 2019 by Jewel Ham who was a Spotify design intern at the time. You can check out the concept designs here.
She shared this last year.
Refinery29 reported that she never got her due. Jewel recalls that she never even got a thank you note.
“It’s not just Spotify personally. They’re cool people. But these corporations, they own all their intern content,” she said
“Stipend — that word alone doesn’t sound right for major ideas, but that’s it [for pay.] How would you have any idea when you’re onboarding that you’re going to create something so groundbreaking?
all too often, Gen Z labor goes unsung and unpaid
The publication added that Spotify Wrapped story format was meant to appeal better to Gen Z. Jewel worked independently and without oversight from supervisors.
“It was a good internship, and I had a good time. The things that I enjoyed the most about Spotify were very perk-related — they have a lot of snacks, they have nap rooms. But I feel like I have to distance myself a bit from all those benefits because that doesn’t translate into any type of compensation for such a large idea,” she continues.
“I’m hearing a lot of people saying, Oh, that’s what you do. That’s how companies work. I feel like the most dangerous thing to say is, That’s how it is because that’s the way we’ve always done it. That is not right,” Jewel adds.
“It doesn’t make creative sense. The idea is what runs the company. However you execute it, that’s what’s driving the streams. It’s driving traffic to other artists, it’s bringing people together. I know for a fact that there’s a huge demographic of people that are on Apple Music, and they see their friends post their [Wrapped story] and they switch,” she says speaking to Refinery29.
“The more you get into it, especially when you find yourself really interested in the project — it’s almost dangerous. I really gave my all in the project because I love using Wrapped. I had ideas about it. For us, it’s such a genuine, Ooh, wouldn’t this be cool? But for them it’s a lot more… leechy. It’s more parasitic.”
Jewel has since moved on from this issue.
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