I'm sure if Gary asked around his friends and family what they'd like to hear on his next album, he could probably make more money.
Admittedly, I may be making a false dichotomy there.
I've chosen the path that I hoped would make as many people as possible able to listen to my music. That includes not only Spotify, but also YouTube "videos" and free downloads from my website. The Spotify income covers my own Spotify subscription, which is nice, but I didn't make the music for money's sake. :)
And I realize the above may come off as judgemental, but that's not my intent. I hope it can be understood as an observation and an anecdote, not an argument about what others should do.
The experience also has me strategizing on our next move. I'm applying the Lean mindset and focusing on the feedback we got from paying customers: "longer and more songs", "loved the clear crisp audio", "you played X, it's my favourite". We're doing a St. Patrick's day album next which is focusing on those pillars. I also may have splurged and commissioned an album cover off Fiverr.