DEE SNIDER, SEBASTIAN BACH AND MIKE PORTNOY ALL SLAM “GREEDY” SPOTIFY CEO DANIEL EK
A number of rock and metal musicians have slammed comments made by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. After the streaming businessman claimed artists will need to record an album more often than once every three or four years to make sufficient income, artists like Mike Portnoy, Dee Snider, Sebastian Bach and others have voiced their own opinion.
According to Loudwire, although streaming has allowed fans far more access to music, royalty payouts to artists, and record labels, has been a source of contention. The official numbers do fluctuate, but according to various sources, Spotify pays amongst the lowest rates per stream compared to its competitors.
The lowest paying platform is YouTube, giving roughly $0.00074 to record labels per stream, though the number does fluctuate. Pandora is the second-least generous platform, followed by Spotify, which pays roughly $0.00397 per stream.
“Obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough,” Ek told Music Ally. ‘But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.”
“What a greedy little bitch…it’s bad enough that he’s worth BILLIONS based on stealing and giving away other musician’s music…but now he’s suggesting we need to make MORE music for HIM to make more money!!! F-@Spotify and F-@eldsjal” Mike Portnoy wrote on Twitter. “I have 8 full album releases in 2020 & will make PEANUTS on them (if anything at all…) So his theory of artists needing to make MORE music to succeed is shit! F-@eldsjal & F-@Spotify! Support THE ARTISTS DIRECTLY if you want them to be able to continue to make music…”
Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider reacted, “While you (the listener) benefit & enjoy spotify, it’s part of what’s killing a major income stream for artist/creators. The amount of artists ‘rich enough’ to withstand this loss are about .0001%. Daniel Ek’s solution is for us to write & record more on our dime?! F–k him!”
“When this guy puts out an album himself I will listen to him tell me about my albums,” tweeted Sebastian Bach.
I personally dont stream. I perfer CD’s which are getting impossible 2 find at retail stores. Seen article on line cassette sales were up 300 percent compared 2 cd’s (believe it was 16 percent) Which Im not sure if I believe but nowadays who knows. I still have bout 400 cassettes but I dont think Ill B purchasing any new ones. Specially since my car has flash drive/ audio input. No cd player or “cassette player”
Not alone Doug used to download but CD are my thing now hardly ever stream music. One day people are going to get a rude awakening when carriers and those who provide Wi-Fi will start to charge by the Gig and say goodbye to that unlimited data
Decided to start to replace albums of my favored bands like Priest and Maiden that I downloaded with Hard copies Just bought Maidens Final Frontier remastered nothing can beat the glossy liner note book
At the risk of being ignorant “where do U buy cd’s “. I live in south central PA and they seem extinct. Thought I’d suck it up & finally go online. Checked Amazon & I still couldnt find what I wanted/needed.
Live in Jersey, in town of Fords, there is Vintage Vinyl they have a huge hard rock heavy metal Cd section
Well unfortunately as of now, our options are limited. However with all the third-party sellers on Amazon, you should be able to find what you’re looking for. Ebay, and Walmart are other options.
Whoops, forgot to mention (sorry, Rattle 😉 lousrecords.com 🙂
You’re right, Doug! Lou’s Records in Encinitas, CA! Great independent shop that’s been in business for 40 years! Most of my CD and vinyl collection came, and still comes from, Lou’s Records.
I have ripped my cd collection onto itunes and buy music off Apple – no streaming services.
To be fair, Mike, Dee and Sebastian are not mainstream enough now to make a difference though they bring up a solid case. You need more established musicians to lead the charge and bring everyone else along for the ride)
Of course these streaming services should provide better royalties to the artists and on the flip side, the artists know what they are getting into with the current models. This might not be such a big deal now if bands could tour.
To promote artist buy-in (and attract broad base of users), I would have incentives to raise/increase the rate, such as: 1) number of years on platform/# of songs on platform 2) interviews / special streaming concerts / fan shows etc.