Fuck Spotify

[OGBama]

Spotify Reportedly Plans To Pay Even Less In Royalties To Less-Popular Artists

Spotify, already notorious for its insultingly low royalty rate, is reportedly planning to pay even less to artists who don’t already get a ton of streams. Billboard reports that the giant Swedish streaming service is restructuring its royalty system and that it “will de-monetize tracks that had...

www.stereogum.com

 

[V.J. Retro]

I've just found out about this.

 

[K-waz]

what??? This is crazy

 

[Fade]

It's everywhere. Google's ads pay much lower than before too. Advertisers are not spending as much as before but also it's just usual corporate greed. Fuck Spotify.

Presumably, Spotify will frame this as a way to combat fraud and to limit payments to ambient-noise generators, but it could also have a tremendous effect on the service’s role within the independent music world.

Even if this is true, that's not cool to punish smaller artists. There's AI available now so they should invest in finding the troublemakers and kicking them out, then leave the actual artists alone.

 

[Kane the MOD]

It's everywhere. Google's ads pay much lower than before too. Advertisers are not spending as much as before but also it's just usual corporate greed. Fuck Spotify.



Even if this is true, that's not cool to punish smaller artists. There's AI available now so they should invest in finding the troublemakers and kicking them out, then leave the actual artists alone.

Independent artists are way to greedy and negative. Think about the shareholder value! Be happy for the rich people!

Also, be happy that Joe Rogan got his cut.

 

[Iron Keys]

Annual streams sounds dumb af.

Let's say an artist has 10million streams on a sing one year, because it was popping off, then only 50k next year.

Either way. This is tragic.


Now... my hope always was... when radio first came out (no I'm not that old, mayhe Fade and 2G remember those days), the royalty rate was lowww and a lot of people shunned it, but it then became the best earner.

Now. I was hoping/expecting that streaming would follow a similar suit. It needs to.

Over accessibility, over saturation, has really killed music. Accessibility both in making and releasing it and in consuming it. I would say streaming has killed cinema too.

Too many anyone can make music, which is a beautiful thing... the problem is too many anyone's thinking they are good. We need quality control.

Maybe we need to force a return to scarcity. Albums only exist for 6 months. 50$ to listen then it's gone. Mix that with tough legislation against websites hosting pirated material.

Or artists and labels removing songs from platforms until royalties are reasonable and fair.

 

[Kane the MOD]

Annual streams sounds dumb af.

Let's say an artist has 10million streams on a sing one year, because it was popping off, then only 50k next year.

Either way. This is tragic.


Now... my hope always was... when radio first came out (no I'm not that old, mayhe Fade and 2G remember those days), the royalty rate was lowww and a lot of people shunned it, but it then became the best earner.

Now. I was hoping/expecting that streaming would follow a similar suit. It needs to.

Over accessibility, over saturation, has really killed music. Accessibility both in making and releasing it and in consuming it. I would say streaming has killed cinema too.

Too many anyone can make music, which is a beautiful thing... the problem is too many anyone's thinking they are good. We need quality control.

Maybe we need to force a return to scarcity. Albums only exist for 6 months. 50$ to listen then it's gone. Mix that with tough legislation against websites hosting pirated material.

Or artists and labels removing songs from platforms until royalties are reasonable and fair.

Music streaming devalued music as a product. This is a fact and there is no way back. Return to scarcity lol.

If you want to charge 50 bucks for music you have to build a loyal fanbase to sell them merch, CD's or vinyl. To achieve this artists should probably stay on the corporate streaming services. This is just the reality in my view.

 

[Fade]

Over accessibility, over saturation, has really killed music.

I've been saying this for years! There's too many people all trying to do the same thing so it gets devalued.

Music streaming devalued music as a product.

Exactly. Then add in the fact that people sign up to scam the Spotify/Youtube system and we have a problem.

[RANT]
If you look back to let's say the 80s and 90s, there weren't a lot of people making beats. Why? Because first of all you needed equipment and you had to know how to use it. It was expensive and there weren't any tutorials you could just pull up at 2am on Youtube. None of that existed. So with only a small group of people actually making beats, the music was really good - and also, we didn't have new music 24/7. It was every few months for an album. When you add all that up you get a product that has a very high value and people will appreciate it more - PLUS it was physical media!

Now with streaming everything is just mashed together. You don't have to wait months, anticipating an album dropping and going to the store to buy it. You can just stream it and if it doesn't sound good right away then you can just skip through the songs instantly and be done with the album within 5 minutes. I bet a lot of people don't even know the track names, they instead go by the track number.

But with so many people being able to call themselves "artists", "rappers", "beatmakers", "producers", etc, it devalues everything. With just a few clicks you can sign up to Spotify, upload some music you put together in FL by using loops and templates and then spam your Spotify link all over social media, then call yourself whatever you want to call yourself.

It's a shame because there's a lot of talented people out there but the way things are now they get lost in the pileup of music streaming.

What artists USED to do is make a deal with a local music venue so they could perform there. Then they'd have to promote their show through word of mouth and handing out flyers all over the place. Hopefully enough people showed up for their show. They'd perform and they would also have a merch table off to the side. It sucked, but it's how it was done. Artists can't do that anymore (or can't be bothered) because a lot of venues are gone. So they post their music online just like everyone else. Some of the best shows I've ever been to were small venues with local artists. It was a great way to discover new music and it was cheap to get in.

Anyway, sorry for the long post but it's just something that I've hated for a long time. Streaming, (like everything else on the internet) is convenient but it also sucks. Even Bandcamp is threatened now because they were bought out. That used to be a way to get your music out too but nowadays people don't want MP3 files, they just want to stream.
[/RANT]

 

[Iron Keys]

If you want to charge 50 bucks for music you have to build a loyal fanbase to sell them merch, CD's or vinyl. To achieve this artists should probably stay on the corporate streaming services. This is just the reality in my view.

If I wqs a major artist I'd probably pull some nonsense like that.

Some exclusive short-time existing album high pay to play.

Just like WuTang and their 1 album selling for 1mil or whatever it was.

If Drake said I'm selling 100 copies of my album 20,000$ each, only way to listen.

They'd all sell.

 

[Dusty B]

I've been saying this for years! There's too many people all trying to do the same thing so it gets devalued.

Exactly. Then add in the fact that people sign up to scam the Spotify/Youtube system and we have a problem.

[RANT]
If you look back to let's say the 80s and 90s, there weren't a lot of people making beats. Why? Because first of all you needed equipment and you had to know how to use it. It was expensive and there weren't any tutorials you could just pull up at 2am on Youtube. None of that existed. So with only a small group of people actually making beats, the music was really good - and also, we didn't have new music 24/7. It was every few months for an album. When you add all that up you get a product that has a very high value and people will appreciate it more - PLUS it was physical media!

Now with streaming everything is just mashed together. You don't have to wait months, anticipating an album dropping and going to the store to buy it. You can just stream it and if it doesn't sound good right away then you can just skip through the songs instantly and be done with the album within 5 minutes. I bet a lot of people don't even know the track names, they instead go by the track number.

But with so many people being able to call themselves "artists", "rappers", "beatmakers", "producers", etc, it devalues everything. With just a few clicks you can sign up to Spotify, upload some music you put together in FL by using loops and templates and then spam your Spotify link all over social media, then call yourself whatever you want to call yourself.

It's a shame because there's a lot of talented people out there but the way things are now they get lost in the pileup of music streaming.

What artists USED to do is make a deal with a local music venue so they could perform there. Then they'd have to promote their show through word of mouth and handing out flyers all over the place. Hopefully enough people showed up for their show. They'd perform and they would also have a merch table off to the side. It sucked, but it's how it was done. Artists can't do that anymore (or can't be bothered) because a lot of venues are gone. So they post their music online just like everyone else. Some of the best shows I've ever been to were small venues with local artists. It was a great way to discover new music and it was cheap to get in.

Anyway, sorry for the long post but it's just something that I've hated for a long time. Streaming, (like everything else on the internet) is convenient but it also sucks. Even Bandcamp is threatened now because they were bought out. That used to be a way to get your music out too but nowadays people don't want MP3 files, they just want to stream.
[/RANT]

I agree. But it is what it is though. The up and comers who know how to play the game AND make great music will be the next big stars. But to your point, it also fosters an environment where it's single driven and over-saturated with the latest sound, to try and get as many streams as possible. How many listeners still listen front to back to a 1 hour album that tells an awesome story and has a consistent vibe? They have their playlist and that's that.

But it is what it is. Corporations focus on what can make the most money (not the art/craft), but the market also drives it. People can cancel Spotify, but they don't.

Perhaps eventually artists will stop focusing on Spotify and take a different route, but that would also require customers/fans to do the same, and the latter just doesn't seem to be happening.

IDK...