TIME FOR CHANGE
Opium Cartel’s guitarist says, “Many fans don’t know how bad things are at Spotify.”
Online streaming has been around for a while now. It’s great in many ways, but most fans are probably unaware that it’s bad news for the artists they love. You can’t blame listeners for not knowing because the people behind these services do their best to cover up the damage.
Before I go on to attack Spotify, I must confess: I use the service myself. I look for new music, and if I like what I hear, I’ll order a physical LP online. As a mixing engineer I use Spotify if a band tells me, “Give it that nocturnal crunch of the Debased Babykillers’ third EP!” I’m not going to spend money on a garbage record so I hit it up on Spotify… usually to ascertain that I can ignore the band’s instructions!
Spotify has become ubiquitous for that reason: it’s so damn convenient. But I was never asked, as an artist: “Would you like us to spread your music around the entire planet, and in return get paid nothing?” If I had been, I would’ve socked them on the jaw.
Spotify weren’t the first, but their tipping of the scales is far reaching. For less than the price of a physical album, subscribers can listen to a million albums a month, if they have the time. It’s a steal for listeners, and a steal from the artists. The average payout per stream on Spotify is between $0.004 and $0.007 (that’s not even one penny) so most artists get paid next to nothing even if people listen to their music every day. To make matters worse, when you listen to your favourite avant-noise record, part of your payment ends up going to a major label, because current royalty agreements state that record companies get a share of all Spotify revenue. That’s a bullshit deal.
Researchers have proposed a “user-centric” model where what you pay actually goes to the artists you listen to. Studies also show that listeners are willing to pay more, if that means artists get paid more. The United Musicians and Allied Workers Union have started a campaign, Justice At Spotify, where they’re demanding Spotify raise their payout to one cent (one penny) per stream.
But Spotify isn’t sharing its money yet. With an estimated value of $28 billion (£22.5bn), it’s shored up rights for almost all the world’s music. Users are asked to pay for it while only a symbolic trickle of that money drips into the hands of labels, distributors and artists, who are left to fight over it. Is it really fair that these businessmen make billions out of music that people like me sweat blood and tears to create?
Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek recently told musicians to make him more music to sell. “It’s not enough to make albums every three to four years,” he said. Turn on the conveyor belt. We’ll pile on prog rock masterpieces every month while our kids go hungry.
Until Spotify changes, my advice is to use Bandcamp – 85-90 per cent of what you pay goes back to the musicians, and it’s a fun, friendly way for fans and artists to interact.
Got an opinion on the matter that you’d like to share? Please email us at: prog@futurenet.com. Opinions expressed in this column aren’t necessarily those of the magazine.