Why the charts are full of old songs - and so are your playlists — SkimNews
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- Luminate data shows that in the first half of 2026, about 60% of music streamed in the US and UK was released five or more years ago, significantly outweighing current music (released less than 18 months ago).
- Spotify has removed 75 million 'spammy tracks' from its catalog, many linked to AI-generated music, while acknowledging AI's growing role in music production across a spectrum of artist use.
- Chiminyo, a London-based independent artist, observes that top tracks in Spotify’s 'relaxing jazz piano' playlist sound nearly identical and come from artists with unverified accounts, suggesting synthetic mass-production.
- Oliver Schusser of Apple Music emphasizes the need to champion 'tomorrow's artists' through curation, citing concern that future Super Bowl-level performers may not emerge without early support.
- Sofar Sounds launched its Human Discovery Movement, enabling users to text a mystery number and receive voice-note music recommendations from human tastemakers to counter algorithmic curation.
- Dan Mackta at Qobuz asserts that AI-driven playlists avoid risk and 'will never want to throw a curve ball,' limiting exposure to less-commercial or emerging musical styles.
Why it matters: As algorithmic curation and listener nostalgia concentrate streams among legacy hits and synthetic content, emerging artists face diminished pathways to visibility and income—0.4% of artists capture nearly two-thirds of all streams, per UK regulators, threatening long-term musical diversity.
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