Spotify Wrapped: A Disguised Mess

Grab popcorn because there are a lot of reasons why…

Photo by Thibault Penin on Unsplash

Don’t get me wrong, every November-December, I am also guilty of waiting excitedly for Spotify to send me my annual report of music in their own unique and fun way. I’ve found, however, that Spotify Wrapped is not all fun and games when it comes to human psychology.

Let’s begin by talking first about how and why it makes us joyful.

1. Every Spotify Wrapped is unique to its user. In the age of technology and increasingly intelligent algorithms, the music streaming app analyzes every user’s data and provides an accurate review of the music they listened to the whole year. The key to this genius marketing strategy is the fact that it keeps the spotlight on the users themselves and focuses on the parts of the Spotify experience which users genuinely value. For many of us, music is a big fixture of our self-concepts, and a core part of Spotify’s value as a service is that it provides a venue for identity exploration and discovery. Ultimately, through Wrapped, Spotify is subtly reminding us of the specific ways we benefit from using the platform, and insinuating itself into the fond memories and associations we hold for our favorite music. The moral of the story:

People like to feel…