A Systems Approach to Designing Better Music Streaming; Streamlined and Stripped Down: How Spotify’s Systems of Technology and Power Constrain Creative Labor

Abstract

How may digital platforms be redesigned to better serve the interests of the artists whose creative work gives them value? An artist- and user-owned streaming platform is proposed that would decentralize control and redistribute revenue from corporations to creators. Using Web3 infrastructure, the model enables direct artist payment through blockchain-based transactions that scale based on user consumption, minimizing fees and ensuring transparency. The design also emphasizes community governance and localized music discovery to encourage the regrowth of music culture. By reducing reliance on profit-driven intermediaries, the system aims to create a sustainable environment where independent artists can thrive. Spotify exemplifies how a platform’s designed-in incentives can perpetuate exploitation. The social construction of technology framework suggests that Spotify’s ownership model, pro- rata payment system, and algorithmic design prioritize shareholder value over fairness. Spotify’s supposed mission to “unlock the potential of human creativity” is undermined by its own architecture, which locks artists into dependency. Together, these projects show that achieving fairness in a digital music economy requires not only reforming compensation models but rethinking the infrastructures that define creative labor itself.