Spotify Wrapped SZN is here — here’s what it is and how to see your results
Spotify Wrapped — the annual compilation of users' most listened to tracks on the music streaming platform — dropped Wednesday. Here’s how it works.
Are you a Swiftie or a Styler? Did Japanese Breakfast take over your listening habits this year or was Turnstile on repeat? There’s an easy — and trendy — way to find out.
Spotify has released this year’s version of “Wrapped” — an annual deep dive into its users listening habits, presenting them with a glitzy summary of their most-listened-to tracks for the year.
Users post the aesthetically pleasing, shareable graphics on social media, showing off their music taste — for better or for worse. Wrapped calls out users for songs they’ve listened to on repeat and other potentially mockable habits. Do you share your account with your kids and they listen to The Wiggles constantly? You can’t edit that out.
Spotify Wrapped also has a feature that tells users how much time they spent listening to certain songs. On Twitter and Instagram, users will share meme-ified versions of the factoid, so it says something like “You spent 25,700 minutes this year thinking about that boy that broke your heart.”
Instafest vs. Wrapped
Earlier this month, an alternate to Spotify Wrapped began taking off on social media. You may have seen it — fake three-day music festival lineups named after your friends.
Instafest, a free web app created by developer Anshay Saboo, generates a music festival lineup based on Spotify listening habits. The results are splashed on a fake poster. The app is not affiliated with Spotify but uses permissions from the streaming platform to compile its results. Unlike Spotify Wrapped, Instafest is also compatible with Last.fm listening history. An Apple Music version is reportedly in the works.
How do I see and share my Spotify Wrapped?
To see your Spotify Wrapped, users have to use the mobile version of the music streaming service. An abridged version with your Wrapped Playlist (automated platforms based on your listening habits) is available on desktop or web, but none of the glitz.
Here are the steps to take:
On your phone, open Spotify. A prompt to see your 2022 Wrapped should be visible from the home page of the app. If it isn’t, visit spotify.com/us/wrapped on a mobile browser and let it redirect you.
The Wrapped Story will walk you through your genre, song, and artist listening patterns.
This year’s Wrapped also gives users a reading of their “Listening Personality.” Results include things like “The Early Adopter” and “The Adventurer.”
Each slide of the Wrapped Story has a “share” button at the bottom. Click that button to save each individual slide to your camera roll or post it on social media. At the end of your Wrapped Story, there will be a second opportunity to save and change the color scheme of your Top Artists summary.
Criticisms of Spotify rise during Wrapped season
On Instagram, musicians and record labels are posting a parody version of the Instafest graphic with the title “Reality Check Fest.” The “lineup” goes on to criticize Spotify for its low payments to artists and high executive salaries.
According to Insider, Spotify paid artists (through their rights holders) $0.0033 to $0.0054 per stream last year, meaning it would take about 250 streams for an artist to earn $1. Its competitor, Apple Music paid an average of one cent per stream in 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported. Digital Music News reported that on average, Spotify executives earned $1.34 million last year.
“To actually support your favorite artists, buy their music from their website or at a record store,” the parody version — originally posted by Boulevard Recording Studio in California but reposted by the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers — said. “You will be making a huge difference.”