Spotify It Is Then...
Bowing To The (Sadly) inevitable
That’s it then. I’ve done a deal with the Devil - or at least his representative on earth. After months of refusing to create a Spotify account for my fledgling record label Jenny’s Feather Factory, I’ve decided that resistance is futile. As of today, Sound On Sound by The Leaking Machine is available on Daniel Ek’s streaming platform. Of course, Ek isn’t REALLY the Devil - but there is something decidedly off about a business model that thrives on the creativity of others, without offering a fair rate of return.
Everyone knows that the royalty rate is lousy. But do you know HOW lousy? If The Leaking Machine album generates £1 million streams - an almost unimaginable level of success for where the band is today - that would translate to payment of around £3,000. Barely enough to cover their recording costs - and certainly not sufficient to pay for pressing and distribution of the record or CD. Songs which register fewer than 1,000 streams - something like 60% of all releases - get nothing at all.
Spotify, on the other hand, is rolling in cash. It posted profits of just under £1 billion in 2024. Although that was the first year in the black, previous losses were due to investment in new services (eg podcasts, audiobooks) designed to boost its growth in the long term. Ek, the founder and CEO is estimated to have personal net wealth of $6.7 billion, which, it’s said, makes him richer than any musician in history.
Why, then, stuff his pockets with even more moolah? Simple. Spotify is the greatest jukebox ever invented; the largest record store on the planet. And it’s only a keystroke away. That means bands which aren’t on it may as well not exist. When tracks get played on 6 Music, for example, I know from experience that it’s the place people turn to discover more. Being absent isn’t a sensible option. The trouble is that being present is hardly rewarding either, at least not in a monetary sense.
Should Ek be allowed to profit from his ingenuity in devising such a readily accessible platform? Of course, he should. But so, too, should the artists without whom his platform would be nothing more than a line of code.
(P.S. The Leaking Machine album is also available on Bandcamp, a streaming service that ensures a much more equitable rate of return for artists).