244 Songs Over 1,000 Spins

An update on the success of my Less Than 1,000 Spins project.

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A note from Gino: I try to keep the writing for the Micro-Chop and Less Than 1,000 Spins newsletters separate, but now and again I’ll allow myself to repost something from one newsletter to the other. This Less Than 1,000 Spins update article seemed like an appropriate one to repost to Micro-Chop.

I have to say I’m proud of this project. I tried to make lemonade out of lemons, and I’m happy with the results. I hope what I’m doing demonstrates the power of advocating for music that needs and deserves an audience, regardless of the behavior of people in positions of power. Read more about the success of Less Than 1,000 Spins in its first year of existence below. I look forward to whatever year #2 brings.

I called out Spotify CEO Daniel Ek for his decision to demonetize songs with less than 1,000 plays a little over a year ago. It’s worth noting that songs with under 1,000 spins make up a significant percentage of the music available on Spotify.

In addition to calling him out, I started Less Than 1,000 Spins as a Micro-Chop adjacent passion project. I compiled 500 songs with less than 1,000 plays on Spotify and 442 on YouTube. I also made playlists to capture the songs that break the 1,000 threshold and titled them Formerly On Less Than 1,000 Spins.

My wife and I joyfully welcomed our son and second child on February 8th, so I haven’t been able to pay close attention to the metrics of this project for a little bit. However, I recently had an opportunity to go through the playlists. I was stunned by the numbers. 244 songs featured on the Spotify version of Less Than 1,000 Spins have broken 1,000 plays. That’s close to 50% of the songs I’ve selected.

The YouTube numbers aren’t quite as strong, as only 61 songs have broken the 1,000 spins barrier so far. But that number seems to be climbing slowly and steadily. I predict the YouTube playlists will gain significant traction the longer I keep this project going.

It seems like people are much more interested in tracking the Less Than 1,000 Spins playlists (959 saves on Spotify and 2,806 views on YouTube) than the Formerly On Less Than 1,000 Spins playlists (89 saves on Spotify and 300 views on YouTube), which I completely understand. There’s only so much obscure music a person can keep up with.

That said, I wanted to take this opportunity to point out the Formerly On Less Than 1,000 Spins playlists to my subscribers. Both versions are loaded with great songs that I think you’ll enjoy.

Making these playlists has been a profound, eye-opening experience. It has underscored the limitations of my musical knowledge while inspiring me to dig deep for new albums and songs I can share with my readers. Several songs found during my Less Than 1,000 Spins journey have become very important to me.

So if you can, take a moment to sit with the songs that have broken 1,000 spins. Be sure to let me know if any specific tracks catch your ear.

Make sure to check out Less Than 1,000 Spins on Spotify and YouTube. You can also check out Formerly On Less Than 1,000 Spins on Spotify and YouTube.

Thank you for your support - I’ll be in touch again soon.

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