Those hours, days, even weeks that musicians spend poring over the track order for their latest album, are fast becoming redundant. At least for those listeners who have joined the Spotify free-streaming revolution.

I am sure most people who consume music as if it were popcorn, a pleasurable snack to accompany another more interesting pursuit, really won’t care. And those who inhale music as if it were air, because if they didn’t they would die, may soon be an endangered species whose opinions aren’t really important anymore.

What the hell am I talking about?

Spotify’s free streaming service doesn’t allow you to listen to the album in the correct order. They feel that to encourage people to buy the £9.99 a month service, hearing the songs in any old order, is the best incentive. The Machine is now the curator. Only on that premium service will you be able to listen to the album in the order the artist intended.

Maybe you know this already, maybe you don’t listen to albums all the way through any more, maybe you just don’t care about it that much.

Vinyl releases will, for the time being at least, be in the order that the artist intended.

I’ll leave you to dwell on that.

Simon Raymonde
18th July 2016