The title is a clear nod to his AIDS-era anthem “Streets of Philadelphia,” which won the 1994 Academy Award for best original song and garnered four Grammy Awards, including song of the year. In 24 hours, it had only three million views on YouTube and barely 200,000 streams on Spotify. And therein lies the problem.
Surely any fan of Springsteen — or frankly any fan of democracy — is applauding the fact that he is lending his considerable star power to the vicious deportation tactics and needless killings of two protestors at the hands of overzealous federal immigration officers. But it remains to be seen if the song has any staying power.
Take note of the difference in YouTube and Spotify plays….
Maybe Spotify is the problem there. Kinda showing that a lot of anti-Ice protesters have left the platform. Also makes you wonder how much of Spotify plays are bots. Bots aren’t going to be amplifying a protest song. But here, you can see a massive difference in two different platforms on play counts. More interesting than the song itself is what it implies about Spotify and its audiences
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From Jeff Slate, New York City-based songwriter and journalist:
Bruce Springsteen’s new anti-ICE anthem isn’t quite as bad as Paul McCartney’s ghastly post-9/11 anthem “Freedom.” Not quite. Still, he’s arguably done more than any other major artist to [speak out against the Trump administration’s](https://www.ms.now/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-post-bruce-springsteen-taylor-swift-gift-rcna207397) draconian policies, and maybe that’s enough.
[“Streets of Minneapolis” ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw)— which Springsteen released on Wednesday, with a follow-up lyric video on Thursday — was met by cheers from his fans and anti-ICE protesters, and jeers from the MAGA faithful. But the four-and-a-half-minute song, chronicling the unprecedented, violent nationwide immigration raids and senseless [deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti](https://www.ms.now/the-last-word/watch/rep-raskin-the-fatal-shootings-of-good-pretti-are-a-massive-assault-on-civil-liberties-2483818051953), felt at last like something close to a universal rallying cry.
The title is a clear nod to his AIDS-era anthem “Streets of Philadelphia,” which won the 1994 Academy Award for best original song and garnered four Grammy Awards, including song of the year. In 24 hours, it had only three million views on YouTube and barely 200,000 streams on Spotify. And therein lies the problem.
Surely any fan of Springsteen — or frankly any fan of democracy — is applauding the fact that he is lending his considerable star power to the vicious deportation tactics and needless killings of two protestors at the hands of overzealous federal immigration officers. But it remains to be seen if the song has any staying power.
Read more: [https://www.ms.now/opinion/bruce-springsteen-youtube-video-minneapolis-pretti-good](https://www.ms.now/opinion/bruce-springsteen-youtube-video-minneapolis-pretti-good)
Take note of the difference in YouTube and Spotify plays….
Maybe Spotify is the problem there. Kinda showing that a lot of anti-Ice protesters have left the platform. Also makes you wonder how much of Spotify plays are bots. Bots aren’t going to be amplifying a protest song. But here, you can see a massive difference in two different platforms on play counts. More interesting than the song itself is what it implies about Spotify and its audiences