A must-read about the enshittification of streaming
Catherine Harrison is a Canadian musician, researcher, and advocate for improving the state of mental health in the music industry. She’s just published this article on the “enshittification” (a wonderful word) about streaming and digital music.
At its core, music has always been about connection—the emotional spark between artist and listener. In the early digital days, platforms like Napster and iTunes felt revolutionary because they promised exactly that: direct access, discovery without gatekeepers, and the chance for fans to support new music in ways that felt immediate and empowering. For a moment, it seemed like a golden age of shared agency and possibility.
But then things shifted. According to Cory Doctorow—who coined the term “enshittification” in November 2022—platforms often follow a three-stage decline:
- User-first glory days, where platforms are designed to delight both creators and audiences.
- Vendor-first pivot, where profit-hungry platforms squeeze users to favor advertisers and business customers.
- Platform-first collapse, where even vendors (creators) are exploited, stripping value right back to shareholders, and ultimately degrading the entire ecosystem.
First, how am I just hearing about this term now?? My bad. I find this extraordinary. And very relevant to the music industry.
