I know a ton of people, from when I started researching in 2021, at public libraries around the United States and Canada that have been working on local music streaming programmes, where they pay small flat fees to local artists to license their music for these small-scale, locally focused music streaming programmes.

Being a phenomenon of the attention economy, streaming platforms rely both on vast quantities of content and a competitive, almost gambling-like environment to attract artists who hope to go viral in the playlist ecosystem, particularly on Spotify. This leaves an opening for various commercial parties to double down on the incentives that are... See more