We all remember the spooky tales of the music industry back in the 1960s. 

The big bad labels were running the game, as they were the ones who had access to media: print, radio and so on. The media held the keys to the final customer and was the only promotion channel – accessible to 1% of the major label artists, while the rest of the music industry was left in the dust.

Now, we live in the digital age and there are more promotion channels then there's ever been. Social media, online outlets and so on – on the surface, it seems like the music industry is "free for all". It doesn't matter if you are a major label sign-y or a DIY bedroom producer from Romania – everyone can succeed, given the fact that you're talented enough. This is the narrative the music industry tries to sell. But is it true though? 

Enter streaming services. Spotify would tell that anyone can succeed in the industry of today – the algorithms will find a new user base and so on. In reality, however, streaming services are becoming the same gatekeeper that the media from the 60s were – or maybe even something worse than that. The truth is that the likes of Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon have an ambition of being more than just a mean of music distribution. They want to be media. Spotify has recently closed the 

Let's look at the playlist, for example. More than 50% of streaming users say that playlists are replacing albums for them. Playlists are huge promotion channels, they've become the prominent way to promote music. You can clearly see this from the various playlist data trackers that popped up all over the web: the industry needs data on playlists more than ever now – just because the playlist is a career maker. 

And even if the streaming services like to pose their playlists as a neutral source of music discovery, reflecting the music industry in its entirety, the truth is that there are 10 guys at Spotify working with 10 guys from Universal, Warner, and Sony to define what goes on the New Music Friday. 

But here comes the worrying part. The streaming services have the ambition to integrate vertically – you can clearly see this from the Spotify's attempts at direct licensing and even rumors of potential Universal acquisition. And if we live to see this come true, it would be a reality of the unified industry of the 1960s coming back in a new and scary way. 

If Spotify finds his way to own a complete music chain – from artist development to promotion to final customer distribution, who will be there to make sure that the real talent gets played, and not manufactured stars? 

The music industry of the future might be a scary place.