Welcome to Stems, a weekly newsletter on music, media, and tech written by Nathan Brackett, former editor at Rolling Stone and content exec at Amazon Music. Subscribe here for free to get every new issue in your inbox every Friday.
Did Spotify Just Crack the Music Video Code?
Top-shelf videos like this one for Wet Leg’s “CPR” one might get some more Spotify viewing.
“Building connections between artists and fans” has become such a worn-in music biz catchphrase that I feel compelled to acknowledge when something actually pulls it off. Last week, as I was writing about the challenges facing music streamers have faced with video on their platforms, I finally spent some time with Spotify’s latest music video player, which launched quietly in December.
One of the harder lessons that Spotify learned from their early video experiments (circa 2015-16) was that music listeners do not want video that interrupts their listening. It sounds kind of obvious in hindsight, but to figure that out, Spotify had to hire a bunch of people to make beautiful-looking interview videos that they would insert between songs in marquis playlists such as Rap Caviar. As it turns out, people didn’t want to pause between “Trap Queen” and “Alright” for a Q&A with Rich Homie Quan. Many videos got very few views, and some talented people lost their jobs.
The new video player has taken those lessons to heart. It’s more or less the same experience as their podcast video player, which has been around for a few years, and allows you to toggle back and forth between audio-only and video without stopping playback. With music, that means that you can be out and about listening to a song, notice it has a music video when you get a seat on the train, and start playing the video mid-song without starting over. It might not sound impressive on paper, but I have been watching a heck of a lot more videos, like this one. Nice job people!
Most of My Favorite Bands These Days Are Just Talking Over Post Punk
Maybe it’s a reaction to AI or any number of things, but singers who mostly just talk over punk rock are sounding great to me these days. Thanks to my man Dev Sherlock for turning me on to the perilous-to-Google band Sex Mask: two Australians and one Canadian who seem to have every single post-punk way to make awesome noise at their disposal. You can hear Gang of Four, Joy Division, Parquet Court, some Pixies guitar washes, Idles and Fontaines DC, among others, but front guy Wry Gray is too much of a live wire to pin down. He was a rapper when he met drummer Vinnie Moncada in Melbourne a few years ago, and still rocks some 90s-ish rhymes on a couple songs, which sounds like it could be awful, but as it turns out, a white Aussie guy doing Cypress Hill over trebly, Buzzcocks guitars actually sounds
great. …. The other Commonwealth Nation-based rock talkers I’ve been digging are UK band Dry Cleaning, who have been around since the late 2010’s but who have a found a new, mesmerizing gear on their latest album Secret Love, produced by Cate Le Bon. Think the Modern Lovers fronted by Laurie Anderson on “Pablo Picasso” and you get a bit of the picture.
Real talk: Melbourne’s Sex Mask
The World’s Finest Music-Themed Mini Crossword Puzzle: Italy Special
Never forget how much Italy rocks.
We’ve peppered in a couple of Italo-themed clues this week in honor of the 2026 Winter Olympics. (Stay away from the cacio e pepe in the Olympic Village.)
To learn more about Stems, visit the About page. To learn more about my consulting practice, visit here.
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: /in/nbrackett
Your Boss Will Think You’re an Ecom Genius
Optimizing for growth? Go-to-Millions is Ari Murray’s ecommerce newsletter packed with proven tactics, creative that converts, and real operator insights—from product strategy to paid media. No mushy strategy. Just what’s working. Subscribe free for weekly ideas that drive revenue.