Spotify's entire business model looks completely whack to me - they're making virtually no profit and still ripping off the artists. From the looks of it, the whole thing just doesn't work well for anyone.
As for UX researchers, I've come in as an experienced market researcher who picked up a few additional skills in usability testing. You would never see an article like this written by a market researcher because we understand that we are business crucial, and are understood as such by the organisations that hire us.
So, understanding that, how do you cross that chasm?
1. Work on your skills. You need to understand every aspect of the business and its ecosystem. You need to understand strategy, concepts like opportunity cost, and how to put together a business case. You're not just telling people about whether customers like their product, you're the strategic engine of the company.
2. Study adjacent areas. If the entire UX industry dried up right now, I could work as a project manager, product manager, market researcher, strategy consultant, copywriter or entry-level graphic designer and have qualifications in each. If companies de-risk by diversifying their portfolio, so must we.
3. Make research continuous. You cannot be a "seasonal worker" if you are testing hypotheses at every stage from pre-concept to product retirement.
There is no stage of product maturity where research is not required. We are crucial, and need to stop saying that we're not.