“Playlisting Favorites: Measuring Platform Bias in the Music Industry”, 2021-09-01 (; similar):
- Music streaming platforms can affect artists’ success through playlist ranking decisions.
Dominant platforms may exercise their power in a biased fashion.
We test for bias in Spotify’s New Music playlist rankings using outcome-based tests.
We find that Spotify’s New Music rankings favor indie-label music and music by women.
Despite challenges faced by women and indie artists, Spotify’s New Music curation appears to favor them.
Platforms are growing increasingly powerful, raising questions about whether their power might be exercised with bias.
While bias is inherently difficult to measure, we identify a context within the music industry that is amenable to bias testing. Our approach requires ex ante platform assessments of commercial promise—such as the rank order in which products are presented—along with information on eventual product success. A platform is biased against a product type if the type attains greater success, conditional on ex ante assessment. Theoretical considerations and voiced industry concerns suggest the possibility of platform biases in favor of major record labels, and industry participants also point to bias against women.
Using data on Spotify curators’ rank of songs on New Music Friday playlists in 2017, we find that Spotify’s New Music Friday rankings favor independent-label music, along with some evidence of bias in favor of music by women.
Despite challenges that independent-label artists and women face in the music industry, Spotify’s New Music curation appears to favor them.
[Keywords: online platforms, platform power, platform bias, music streaming, playlists]
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