Ireland's Dermot Kennedy amid the year's biggest names on Spotify

2020 saw growth and controversy for the music streaming service, as its podcasting expansion brought streaming-royalty inequities into sharp relief.

Tue, 01 Dec, 2020 - 17:39

Dublin singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy joins international names like the late rapper Juice WRLD, pop star Taylor Swift and producer The Weeknd as one of the biggest successes on Spotify in 2020.

Despite ongoing controversy over royalty payments deemed 'unsustainable' by artists, especially in the face of lucrative 'name' podcast acquisitions; and comments from founder Daniel Ek about artists' obligation to fulfill the platform's 'content churn', the audio-streaming service continued to dominate music consumption this year among a wider audience.