The Spotify CEO's Comments Are Worse Than You Thought

Spotify CEO Dan Ek's comments on how artists can't "only release albums every 3-4 years" to make money on his platform was tone-deaf and callous.

Par for the course in neoliberal capitalism, but Spotify's payment practices and political campaigning shines a light on how little the streaming industry really cares about the artists making them billions.

I'll be discussing his comments, how Spotify pays its artists, how Spotify campaigned to keep artist's revenues low then LIED about it, all while Spotify is raking in billions from streams during the current pandemic.

Daniel Ek is disgusting.

Sources:

Daniel's comments: https://www.nme.com/news/music/spotify-ceo-says-its-not-enough-for-artists-to-release-albums-every-3-4-years-2719272

Spotify's billion dollar payments to Record Labels: https://www.vox.com/2017/6/15/15807382/spotify-revenue-2016-financials-guarantee-payment-universal-merlin

Spotify's payment methods/campaigning against artist revenues: https://musically.com/2020/05/05/spotify-should-pay-musicians-more-lets-talk-about-how/

Ditto's streaming calculator: https://www.dittomusic.com/blog/how-much-do-music-streaming-services-pay-musicians

Payrate for Spotify's streams: https://help.songtrust.com/knowledge/what-is-the-pay-rate-for-spotify-streams

Tip jars and their inefficacy: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/23/spotify-tip-jar-musicians-pay-fans-donate-artists
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/k7qqw3/spotify-tip-jar-donations-fair-pay-royalties-musicians

Daniel Ek getting bonuses for not doing his job: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/daniel-ek-doesnt-have-a-salary-but-hes-got-a-dream-that-spotify-can-change-the-world/

COVID-19's affects on the music industry: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/this-is-how-covid-19-is-affecting-the-music-industry/

Spotify campaigning against artist payments, then lying: https://musically.com/2019/03/12/spotify-defends-its-crb-rates-appeal-but-nmpa-boss-isnt-impressed/

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/if-spotify-thinks-songwriters-deserve-to-be-paid-more-why-did-it-try-to-cut-what-they-earn/

John Fogerty sued for plagiarizing himself: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27501/time-john-fogerty-was-sued-ripping-john-fogerty

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