Episode

Has Spotify killed the musical star?

Podcast
Crashed
Published
Apr 16, 2026
Duration seconds
3479
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/crashed/episodes/has-spotify-killed-the-musical-star
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68f22ac7ca0e7f7545c5ecea/e/69e006a7501ebe6715c09603/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/crashed-7542126/episodes/has-spotify-killed-the-musical-star
Markdown
/podcast/crashed-7542126/has-spotify-killed-the-musical-star.md

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Summary

The UK has not created a new music genre in a decade, DJ/producer Lo-Wu tells Crashed. As AI now accounts for around 40% of music uploads, what happened to innovation in music? Where’s the next garage, the next grime, the next dubstep coming from?  If streaming doesn't work, and live music doesn't work, if record sales don’t work, and if AI music, as Nick Cave says, is a “grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”, what happens now?  Did Spotify kill music? Did Thatcher? Did the internet? Or is music still a thriving industry that pays out $11bn to artists each year (as Spotify says)? And now that anyone can create an album (as TV presenter/tech journalist Spencer Kelly did with his 10-year-old daughter), is that a good thing or a bad one?  Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker are joined by Spencer Kelly and South London DJ/producer/dot connector Lo-Wu to try and work out where music goes next.  Follow Spencer Kelly on Substack: https://spencerkelly.substack.com/ or visit his website: https://www.spencerkelly.com/   Follow Lo-Wu on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lowusounds , subscribe to his Substack https://substack.com/@lowusounds , or book tickets to his event, LO-WU LIVE: The Lost Art of The Sound Man, here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/lowusoundsltd/2160317 To support, go to https://bit.ly/CrashedPodcast or search Crashed podcast Follow: Alex: www.instagram.com/alexhuds / www.tiktok.com/@alexhuds Chris: www.instagram.com/cstokelwalker  / www.tiktok.com/@st0kel Spotify: https://bit.ly/CrashedSpotify Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4qkgmmV RSS: https://bit.ly/CrashedRSS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.