Jesse Austin-Stewart, Lecturer, School of Music and Screen Arts, Te Kunenga ki Purehuroa – Massey University
Spotify has just released Spotify Wrapped, its annual end-of-year viral promotional exercise. For New Zealand musicians, however, there was little to get excited about.
Spotify Wrapped aims to reflect users’ listening habits back to them, revealing their most listened to songs, artists, podcasts and more.
It’s meant to be fun and lighthearted, but you don’t need to look closely at the 2025 list of the top 100 streamed songs in Aotearoa to notice there are only five New Zealand songs featured.
Global Korean-Kiwi superstar ROSÉ comes in at sixth for her collaboration with Bruno Mars, APT (released 2024), followed by Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over (1986), Hori Shaw’s Back In My Arms (2024), L.A.B.’s In the Air (2019), and Te Wehi’s Unaware (2024) in 60th, 72nd, 73rd and 78th respectively.
Kiwi music was also beaten by the KPop Demon Hunters Soundtrack with six tracks in the top 100, and it seems Spotify also doesn’t consider ROSÉ or Crowded House New Zealand artists.
Last year’s Spotify Wrapped had similar results, with Corella’s Blue Eyed Maori being the only Kiwi song to make the top 50 songs streamed by New Zealanders.
The Wrapped results come as no surprise. New Zealand music made up only 3.8% of all streams in Aotearoa in the financial year of 2025, a 33.1% drop since 2021. This is despite close to half of New Zealanders streaming music every day, with Spotify being the most popular platform, engaging 35% of listeners.
Streaming is also the main way audiences discover new music. In Australia, Spotify claims customers there find it easy to find local music. But research by music rights management organisation APRA AMCOS shows the share of Australian content being streamed in Australia is also declining.
Artist visibility is not the only concern. Over the past few years, Spotify has been criticised for its remuneration of artists, its “hate content and hateful conduct policy” and for a scheme where artists take reduced royalties to have their music promoted in playlists.
In July it was reported that Spotify founder Daniel Ek was involved in heavy investment in a military AI company. And unlike other social media giants TikTok and YouTube, Spotify isn’t making consistent efforts to label AI content, despite growing concerns from the sector around AI use in music.
Local artists struggling to be heard
These controversies have led some high profile international artists to remove their music from the platform.
In Aotearoa, well-known artists Tiki Taane and The Bats have removed work from Spotify, and the grassroots group Boycott Spotify NZ encourages other musicians to do the same. Green MP Tamatha Paul has also publicised those artists’ decision to remove their music from Spotify and left the platform herself.
The low turnout of local artists on Spotify Wrapped is part of a larger, worrying trend. New Zealand artists are featuring less on annual top 40 charts, and radio stations seem to be playing less local music, with only two nationwide commercial stations meeting the voluntary 20% target in 2024.
As we have argued previously, the lack of incentives for streaming platforms to promote local music through their algorithm-driven discovery features is giving established international artists an unfair advantage.
It’s not just about visibility and New Zealand’s unique musical and cultural identity. The low share of streaming means less money flowing into the local music industry, with the most recently available data showing only 9% of retail revenue, which includes streaming, is earned by New Zealand musicians.
Strategies for the streaming age
New Zealand has previously taken steps to address market failure in the local music and broadcast sectors. In the 1980s, commercial stations were reportedly playing less than 2% local music, yet by the mid 2000s this had increased to over 20%.
Researcher Michael Scott attributes that growth to deliberate government intervention that provided a counterbalance to the newly deregulated broadcast sector.
Established in 1989, NZ On Air funded local content, but also indirectly influenced broadcasting behaviour by promoting local music to radio stations.
A lot has changed since then, and while NZ On Air has evolved to incorporate aspects of the digital environment, the blueprint for intervening on behalf of local audiences and artists remains rooted in a market from another time.
Other countries are actively modernising policy. France and Canada have variations of a music streaming levy, which feed money back into opportunities and outcomes for their local sectors. Australia is addressing similar issues in its screen industry, requiring video streaming giants to contribute financially to the sector.
While Spotify Wrapped is supposed to be a fun way for customers to reflect on their last year of listening, it’s also a reminder of how the current market – and our current interventions – could do better to encourage audience engagement with local music.
As we watch other countries take action, Aotearoa is saddled with out-of-date legislation, risking the ability of future generations to find their own Shihad, Bic Runga, or Supergroove.
Jesse Austin-Stewart has completed commissioned research for NZ On Air and participated in focus groups for Manatu Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He has received competitive funding from Creative New Zealand, NZ On Air, Manatu Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage, and the NZ Music Commission. He is a writer member of APRA AMCOS and a member of the Composer's Association of New Zealand and Recorded Music NZ.
