\u00a0 Spotify has not had a good week of publicity, although, in fact, it rarely does these days.<\/strong><\/p>\n When DJ and producer Josh Fawaz stormed the Australian charts with his \u2018cover\u2019 of Madonna\u2019s \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d, he was quickly forced to add clear credits<\/a> for generative AI vocals and AI drums to his song on Spotify. Over the span of 12 months, Spotify has removed an astounding 75 million similarly \u201cspammy tracks\u201d from its database.<\/p>\n AI has infiltrated Spotify in a major, dystopian way. Perfect playlists, personalised music recommendations, even an AI DJ that \u2018talks\u2019 to you about your music tastes \u2014 it\u2019s all happening, and it\u2019s all depressing.<\/p>\n As Fawaz added his AI credits, Lorde took to social media to call out Spotify<\/a> over another problematic feature, \u2018About the Song\u2019, accusing the streaming behemoth of sharing inaccurate information as well as overstepping artistic boundaries. According to Spotify, \u2018About the Song\u2019, which is reportedly in beta, pulls from \u201cthird-party sources to surface interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments.\u201d<\/p>\n In an Instagram Story, Lorde shared a screenshot of a Spotify AI description of her song \u201cCurrent Affairs\u201d, which read: \u201cOn her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n Nope. Wrong. \u201c[\u2026] i\u2019m gonna go out on a limb n say we don\u2019t want this,\u201d Lorde commented on her Instagram Story, tagging Spotify for good measure. \u201cNot only is this inaccurate (not the song i did that in) but reducing a song to an ai generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation imo. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s long been difficult to trust streaming platforms like Spotify \u2014 increased subscription fees, pitiful payouts for musicians \u2014 and the rise of generative AI in music is only muddying the waters even more.<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It often feels like convenience is the only reason we stick around these platforms. (I\u2019m guilty of this myself, with fussy playlist pedantry \u2014 how could I give up all my carefully curated playlists?) In this frictionless era of ours, having almost every single song ever created just a stream away is\u2026 daunting. Overwhelming. Much too much.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a music fan, I realised I don\u2019t want access to every piece of music ever released. I want to discover things, understand them and become obsessed with them. I really hate what streaming has done as an artist as well,\u201d Andrew Wilson<\/a> tells me. He\u2019s the lead singer of much-admired Aotearoa New Zealand punk band Die! Die! Die!, who believe there\u2019s a different, better way to do things.<\/p>\n Wilson and Die! Die! Die! are among the first artists signed up to Lume<\/a>, a New Zealand music startup with big backers and even bigger ambitions. Founded in October of last year, it\u2019s an album-centric music app supported by investors including Substack\u2019s Hamish McKenzie, Letterboxd\u2019s Karl von Randow, and, most interestingly of all, the Spotify-deriding Lorde.<\/p>\n \u00a0 A press release about Lume first came through my inbox on a busy day in June, and I initially paid no mind to it \u2014 I rarely do with tech-cum-business emails \u2014 but then I saw the first artists confirmed for the platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n Earth Tongue, Vera Ellen, Geneva AM, Dick Move, all included in our most recent Future of Music series<\/a>; iconic names like Troy Kingi and Bic Runga; great independent acts like Swallow the Rat, Theia<\/a>, and Fazerdaze \u2014 I listen to these artists, I write about these artists, and, more crucially, I respect their opinions on music. Looking at the list of the first 20 artists partnering with the platform, I didn\u2019t see one musician who would attach their name to a quick cash grab.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to imagine a heathy carrier in music where my success didn\u2019t orbit around streaming services and social media. Lume feels like a big step towards that,\u201d Fables, another of the initial artists, says.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it works. Lume \u201ccan be thought of as both a digital collection and a digital store.\u201d The nascent platform, which officially launched on Google\u2019s Android and Apple iOS on Friday, brings \u201cboxed set-style content \u2014 demos, live tracks, extra artwork, and behind-the-scenes footage\u201d to music fans. Rather than, as Fable alludes to, an artist having to juggle their musical output across myriad platforms \u2014 Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, the works \u2014 Lume brings everything neatly together.<\/p>\n The app, which features a purposefully simplistic product design, offers customers two buttons: \u2018Play\u2019 and \u2018Go Deeper\u2019. The former plays a purchased album in sequence (shuffle mode isn\u2019t an option), while the latter presents an intimate selection of additional content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cLume made perfect sense to me from the get-go. I am a natural archivist (read, hoarder), so to have a platform outside of social media to showcase all of the extra supporting elements that go into a body of work is such a great idea,\u201d the Auckland-based singer-songwriter adds.<\/p>\n \u201cI love how the app works like a virtual record collection, with extra content that lets you dive deeper into the world behind the album,\u201d Erny Belle, who took out the top spot in our 2023 year-end New Zealand albums list, agrees. \u201cI finally have a place to put my crappy demos and unused footage that would\u2019ve otherwise ended up lost forever. I\u2019ve never really valued stuff like that, but maybe other people do, and maybe one day it\u2019ll be nice to look back on. It\u2019s a time capsule of an era.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 Spotify and similar platforms might work for the upper echelon of artists, but the 99% need to get by instead on other income streams such as touring and merch.<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year saw the arrival of Boycott Spotify NZ<\/a>, a collective of independent Kiwi musicians who joined the growing transition away from the platform. Dismayed by the perennially low payouts, Recitals, Carb on Carb and more followed the principled example of overseas acts like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard<\/a> and Deerhoof<\/a> in leaving Spotify behind. As the collective noted in its artist statement, \u201cSpotify treats the majority of its working artists as free labourers, selling access to their musical output with virtually none of the profit returning to the creators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGenerally, each stream generates around 1\/20th of 1 NZ cent. Hence, even artists with hundreds of thousands of streams are receiving poverty wages. Even worse, because artists must crack 1000 streams in order to receive any money, smaller artists earn absolutely nothing from their work,\u201d the statement added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tiki Taane also left Spotify last year. If you go to his profile on the platform now, just one song remains: \u201cBye Bye Spotify\u201d. (It\u2019s a stone-cold banger.) He\u2019s now reissuing his classic debut album, Past, Present, Future<\/em>, on Lume, as are Fur Patrol (Pet<\/em>), The Phoenix Foundation (Give Up Your Dreams<\/em>), The Reduction Agents (The Dance Reduction Agents<\/em>), and Die! Die! Die! (their 2006 self-titled debut).<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always thought in terms of EPs and albums as complete pieces of work,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cMusic has become increasingly shaped by algorithms, playlists, and tech companies rather than artists and music fans.\u201d Already a fan of Bandcamp, another music platform that has generally been kinder to independent artists than Spotify, Wilson was all in when he heard about \u201csomething similar being built here in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like something worth championing,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Independent touring band Swallow the Rat tell me they\u2019ve struggled to find platforms \u201cthat genuinely respect the economics of making music.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLume\u2019s model is a massive step forward for artist sustainability,\u201d they say. \u201cWe joined as partners because Lume isn\u2019t just trying to tweak a broken system; they\u2019re building a fairer, community-driven eco-system that changes how bands like us can survive and share our archives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 Here\u2019s the most attractive thing about Lume for partnered artists: it sounds like they get a genuinely fair share of each sale.<\/strong><\/p>\n 80% of net revenue is reportedly \u201creserved for artists and their partners.\u201d Albums are priced at $24.99, meaning artists will get just under $20 per sale.<\/p>\n Lume works on a \u201cbuy once, own forever\u201d model, rather than a subscription, and co-founder Sacha Judd told RNZ<\/a> that they chose a one-off payment system as they felt music fans were tired of traditional subscription services.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel like there is a bit of subscription fatigue now, everyone is a bit tired of being asked for a monthly fee for everything, so our thesis is that people would be supportive of the idea of going back to buying to own,\u201d Judd told the publication.<\/p>\n Wellington indie rock band The Phoenix Foundation have been active since the \u201990s, which means they\u2019ve had to navigate several distinct eras of music consumption: CDs, the ill-fated MySpace and Napster, the return of vinyl, and now the increased domination of singles in the streaming age. Founding member Luke Buda likes how album-centric Lume is. \u201cWe\u2019ve always focused on albums,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s our favourite way of listening to music too. So I was really happy to have a platform that focuses on albums and all the bits and pieces that come with one: the b-sides, the videos, bootlegs of the live shows\u2026 It\u2019s cool shit to have if you\u2019re into the album.\u201d<\/p>\n Image: Fazerdaze\u2019s \u2018Soft Power\u2019 on the Lume app Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Buda\u2019s fellow Wellington musician Lontalius says he joined Lume \u201cmostly because I\u2019m curious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone agrees that streaming, while convenient, is a fairly unsatisfactory experience when it comes to enjoying the music you love most,\u201d he says. \u201cI really believe there\u2019s room for something that gives you a deeper connection with the music without having to buy a physical disk or download some MP3 files.\u201d He always wanted demos and studio cuts from his album 2025 album Heavy<\/em>, for example, to \u201csit alongside each other,\u201d but no platform had allowed him to achieve that. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see how it all works.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 Isla Noon has the freshest release on Lume.<\/strong><\/p>\n She shared Out of Body (REDUX)<\/em>, a reworking of her well-received debut album from last year, on the platform\u2019s launch day. The redux version sits alongside the original album as well as some unreleased content, including intimate studio videos. It turns out she was one of the first artists to sign up, too. \u201cI believe in the vision both as an artist and a music fan,\u201d she tells me. \u201cI also think it\u2019s time to take bold steps in the direction of a music industry landscape that actually works for artists and fans seeking a deeper experience. It\u2019s refreshing to feel like you can trust the platform you\u2019re making your music available on, because the values align with your own.\u201d<\/p>\n A cursory glance at the other artists\u2019 offerings<\/a> reveals a variety of additional content: if you buy Dick Move\u2019s acclaimed 2025 album Dream, Believe, Achieve<\/em>, you\u2019ll also receive behind-the-scenes photography, bFM live sessions, and several official music videos; Theia is offering a new reimagined version of \u201cHoly War II\u201d, a standout track from her Girl, in a Savage World<\/em> album (2025); Lips\u2019 debut album, I Don\u2019t Know Why I Do Anything<\/em> (2021), is accompanied by remixes and outtakes, with the Silver-Scroll winning band also willing to exclusively reveal the meanings behind their songs; Vera Ellen\u2019s new album Heaven Knows What Time<\/em> comes with a manifesto.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of early goodwill coming Lume\u2019s way, and not just from Kiwi artists. It has already confirmed a partnership with Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ), \u201censuring chart eligibility on day one.\u201d Paul Kennedy, the organisation\u2019s Director of Data and Analysis, wrote to me in an email that he thinks the first week \u201cis likely to just be a clue as to future potential rather than immediately radical impact.\u201d Lume has secured \u201ccritical music publishing arrangements with APRA AMCOS, and respected indie labels such as Flying Nun, Melted Ice Cream, and Lil\u2019 Chief Records have signed deals with the platform.<\/p>\n Writer and musician Gareth Shute, who works at the latter label, which is home to Princess Chelsea and Jonathan Bree, notes that Bandcamp has been kind to Lil\u2019 Chief\u2019s roster, but he thinks \u201cthat the serious fans would like ways to dig even deeper into the albums.\u201d The Lil\u2019 Chief team used to attempt to achieve such deep dives through live videos and social media posts, but those can be time-consuming. Instead, Lume will, Shute says, \u201cmake it possible to bring all that extra content together and really create an online version of the boxset experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Lil\u2019 Chief artist, Mainard Larkin (read his recent Rolling Stone AU\/NZ interview here<\/a>), is signed up, and Shute says it\u2019s \u201cbeen fun seeing the personal touch\u201d that Larkin has been able to provide. Larkin created \u201cspecial lyric sheets\u201d for Lume, and there are further plans to host live recordings there. Shute drops another big teaser. \u201c[Princess] Chelsea is currently in the process of recording, so we are definitely trying to collect Lume<\/span> material along the way!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 Lume being New Zealand-made seems to be a point of pride for many of the artists \u2014 it launched with a roster of 100% Kiwi musicians.<\/strong><\/p>\n This country\u2019s music community is the ideal testing ground, I think, for Lume\u2019s \u201cdigital collection\u201d: New Zealand artists give a lot of themselves to their fans, always going above and beyond. (This relationship is, emotionally and communally, a good thing, but perhaps has been less financially rewarding.)<\/p>\n \u201cReleasing digital music on Lume<\/span> offers artists like myself the opportunity to build a universe around the body of work, there are so many digital assets and memories that are connected to each project,\u201d Geneva AM, winner of Best Independent Debut<\/a> at this year\u2019s Taite Music Prize, says. \u201cI feel optimistic about the future \u2014 I think authenticity is always rewarded through genuine connection between the artist\u2019s work and their fans who support their vision.\u201d<\/p>\n Judd said the decision to start off with an all-NZ lineup was deliberate. \u201cWe think New Zealand is a great test market for us to test a lot of things about which artists this is going to succeed for, so whether that\u2019s new releases or legacy re-releases,\u201d she told RNZ.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Judd made it clear to RNZ \u2014 New Zealand\u2019s national broadcaster is also a Lume partner, according to the press release I seen, allowing artists to \u201chave free access to audio and video across their interviews and live performances\u201d \u2014 that the Lume team doesn\u2019t view it as a director competitor to Spotify et al. Instead, the company views itself as an additional revenue stream for artists alongside the more established streaming platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are focused on a small group of an artist\u2019s fan base and those are the fans who are already followers of those artists, they are already people who want to spend to support those artists, so we are not trying to compete with Spotify or Apple Music, we are complementary to that, it\u2019s really a product for a superfan,\u201d Judd told the publication. The press release I received in June really honed in on this \u201csuperfan\u201d point. It\u2019s clear that the Lume team views the platform as being for the true diehards, rather than the general listener.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to bring the best properties of vinyl and streaming together into one digital product,\u201d co-founder Duncan Greive shared in a statement. \u201cYou can think of it as a record store and a record collection, which you access like streaming, but own like a record. But along with the core audio, you get much more alongside it \u2013 while also meaningfully supporting the artist.\u201d Another co-founder, Tim Harper, sees Lume as having \u201cmore in common with physical media than streaming.\u201d<\/p>\n Launching a new streaming platform, let alone in a small music market like New Zealand, was always going to be hugely risky. There were always going to be teething issues.<\/p>\n The company raised around $1.3 million in its first round of fundraising, and Judd told RNZ that they\u2019ll \u201cbe going out to investors to try to raise more capital to really accelerate our growth\u201d in the coming months.<\/p>\n Australia is the next target market, with the rest of the world to follow afterwards.\u00a0Lorde is slated to bring Virgin<\/em> (2025) to the platform later this year, complete with demos and rarities, and Lorde has more \u201csuperfans\u201d than most. More artists are expected to be announced on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n Some of Lume\u2019s partners are already thinking deeply about the platform. \u201cMoving forward, I will definitely be shaping my next project around how it may be presented on Lume,\u201d Geneva AM says. She\u2019s also\u00a0<\/span>curious about how it will work for each individual artist. \u201cWe are all quite diverse,\u201d she notes. Shute suggests a \u201cfan club\u201d-type element could be a welcome addition, giving fans a way of messaging their favourite artists via the platform.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Earlier this year, the Norwegian Consumer Council took on a major issue: the enshittification of the internet, the gradual deterioration of online products and services.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The council shared an absurd video, which showed a man making holes in someone\u2019s sock and purposefully shortening table leg, as he declared, \u201cMy job is to make things shitty. What I do is I take things that are perfectly fine and I make them worse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnother internet is possible,\u201d said Finn L\u00fctzow-Holm Myrstad<\/a>, the council\u2019s director of digital policy, after its release. \u201cThe status quo is not acceptable for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\nLove Music?<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images-r2-1.thebrag.com\/rs\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Fazerdaze-2-1024x569.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n