Goodbye Spotify

Stop Submitting to Piracy

I've finally decided to stop giving the music that I compose and record to Spotify, whether on my zOaR label or through the other labels that I work with.

This feeling had been simmering for a long time, too long really. I'd always had a negative attitude about this so-called service and could never understand how Eck & Co were able to essentially take over the dissemination of most of our artistic output. Clearly, Spotify offered a promotional service of value to the "music industry", the corporate behemoths that shoveled endless quantities of bland audio waste into the sonosphere and as a collateral benefit to the peasants, it became the essential platform for hearing all music. Sadly, Spotify undercut radio everywhere. Artists were formerly paid royalties for airplay through their publishing companies which were represented by licensing organizations BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC, in the United States. Every country had both state-operated and private publishing companies who would monitor airplay and collect and then disburse royalties. This could be a substantial amount of money but this income was decimated when Spotify took over and radio listening decreased.

Another factor is the corrupt nature of the Spotify Playlists, the way in which music is favored by hidden curators and then placed on Playlists that can result in millions of streams. While this rarely generates the same amount of money as airplay royalties from the BBC or the various German state radio stations, for example, it can be significant, especially in comparison to the typical Spotify amounts. What has been discovered of late is how Spotify owns and operates "music farms", AI-fueled generators of "content" which, when given favorable placement on Playlists, generate more income to be returned to the mother ship and thus bypassing "real" artists.

The final straw was the revelation that Spotify had hosted a Trump Inauguration Brunch and additionally donated $150,000.00 USD to his inauguration. So where did this money come from? The answer is out of our pockets! In a simple act of piracy, Spotify decided unilaterally in 2024 to cease paying royalties for anything less than 1000 streams. While this might represent only a few cents for any individual artist (another issue to rant about!), when added across the many artists using this platform to present their work, it becomes a considerable sum. It's an added slap in the face to the artists robbed of their royalties to have this money given to the felonious grifter-in-chief and his billionaire fellow robber barons. For now, Apple Music and Amazon both pay for all streams. If this changes, I will be happy to say goodbye to them as well.