Brand Strategy's Two-Sided Coin
Two recent events show the power and pitfalls of brand strategy. Spotify's new Hi-Fi audio mode is getting rave reviews, positioning the company as an innovator. Meanwhile, the White House faced a viral backlash after Kesha blasted it for using her song "Blow" in a pro-war post, calling it "disgusting."
Spotify's lossless audio feature, which streams in the FLAC format at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz, was first announced in February 2021 but faced significant delays. The company finally began rolling out the feature in late 2025 at no extra cost to premium subscribers. This move was largely seen as a necessary response to competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music, which had already been offering lossless audio as a standard feature. By matching the audio quality of its rivals, Spotify is defending its market share and appealing to audiophiles who might have otherwise switched services. The White House controversy began on February 10, when its official TikTok account posted a 31-second video titled "Lethality." The clip, set to Kesha's 2011 song "Blow," featured a montage of U.S. warplanes destroying naval targets and has since amassed over 14.5 million views. Kesha responded on social media, stating she did not approve of her music being used to "incite violence and threaten war," calling the video "disgusting and inhumane." She later posted a more direct message: "Stop using my music, perverts @WhiteHouse." The White House's Director of Communications, Steven Cheung, dismissed the criticism. He stated that artists "falling for this" only generates more attention and view counts for the videos. This incident is part of a larger pattern of artists clashing with the administration over the unauthorized use of their music. In the past, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, and Radiohead have all publicly condemned the use of their songs in government social media posts.
