This week, there’s been a growing hue and cry about Spotify, precipitated by Neil Young taking a stand against the platform’s promotion and publication of Joe Rogan’s harmful rhetoric about CoViD, but further bolstered by people seeming to wake up to Spotify’s less than generous revenue sharing model. To be totally fair, they’re not the only ones screwing the artists, but they’re among the most egregious.

Last year was my first year in a decade that did not culminate in an Arsies tournament. That was bittersweet for me, but I still feel good about the decision. And clearly, I did not slack on my Firsties duties: 144 new albums evaluated in 2019! We’ll see how I do in the coming year.

Today, I published my final installment The Arsies, wrapping up what I certainly didn’t intend to be a ten-year, 81,000-word odyssey. Now that the bittersweet end is finally here, I have some thoughts.