Music and Data: Are We Being Watched While We Listen?

In recent years, music streaming services have completely transformed the way we listen to music, making it more portable than ever and evening the playing field for new musicians trying to break into the industry.

Individuals who choose to use the free versions of these services are forced to listen to advertisements, which disrupt their music and cannot be merely skipped over. One only needs to listen to these ads for a brief moment to realize they are specifically targeted to their location, gender, or even companies they've recently interacted with online. Advertisers pay streaming companies large sums of money for the opportunity to get their product or service in front of you, or in this case, in your earbuds. Companies like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music charge advertisers money based on their ability to specifically target ads to listeners.

But what about those who pay a monthly fee to have an ad-free experience? Think you're free from the stalking?  Not so fast. Data is such a rich money-making tool that companies are finding ways to use it multiple channels.

Apple Music recently launched a new artist-facing portal called Apple Music for Artists, which provides data to artists and managers. While this can benefit musicians and their management by providing insight into consumers listening to their music, it's a bit questionable from a user perspective.  However, when you sign up to use these services, you opt-in to this process too.

Companies like Sony Music, a major record label, are also making major investments in data and analytics tools in order to support their marketing and commercial efforts.

While personally, I still think it's worth subscribing to these services, it does make you question how much of your information is private, and how much is being sold to advertisers.