Unfortunately, my understanding is that at least part of the blame lies with the labels. Most labels have contracts with their artists that mean the artists make very little, if anything, off studio recordings. That means they make very little from vinyl sales, CD sales, Spotify streams, etc. If you wanna actually support an artist, you buy merch and go to live shows. My understanding is that this is how it’s always been and people are barking up the wrong tree. People are removed about Spotify when they should be removed about labels taking a massive chunk of their money. They’ve only become aware of how much money they’re missing out on because Spotify supposedly makes so little that they get sticker shock when they get their royalty check, but it’s really not entirely Spotify’s fault.
That’s not saying Spotify is blameless; but if Spotify’s hands are covered in shit, then the labels’ hands are covered in diarrhea and vomit.
Unfortunately, my understanding is that at least part of the blame lies with the labels. Most labels have contracts with their artists that mean the artists make very little, if anything, off studio recordings. That means they make very little from vinyl sales, CD sales, Spotify streams, etc. If you wanna actually support an artist, you buy merch and go to live shows. My understanding is that this is how it’s always been and people are barking up the wrong tree. People are removed about Spotify when they should be removed about labels taking a massive chunk of their money. They’ve only become aware of how much money they’re missing out on because Spotify supposedly makes so little that they get sticker shock when they get their royalty check, but it’s really not entirely Spotify’s fault.
That’s not saying Spotify is blameless; but if Spotify’s hands are covered in shit, then the labels’ hands are covered in diarrhea and vomit.
No, labels are shits. Spotify pays indie artists shit too though.
This is not a case of labels being greedy. This is a case of spotify being greedy and making a bad situation worse.