Spotify has found the target of artists’ anger for many reasons over the years: poor audio quality, terrible payments, giving Joe Rogan millions of dollars … The list continues. But recently, it is the extracurricular activities of the CEO and the founder Daniel Ek that were caused to dismay. In recent months, its funding from the German defense company that has been going through its Prima Materia investment company has been the final straw for many acts, including Hotline TNT, Massive Attack, Godspeed you! Black emperor, deerhoof, and more.
Then, Tuesday, EK announced that it would resign as CEO. Neither EK nor Spotify gave any indication that the growing fury on his pivot in war was the impetus behind the decision. But, if the company hoped that a replacement by EK as CEO would be to stem the wave of artists leaving the platform, I have bad news.
“Our problems with this particular streaming platform go far beyond a reptile.”
– Will Anderson of Hotline TNT
The penis Has stretched out a number of artists and labels who had removed their music from Spotify, and that does not look like any of them to change their melody anytime soon. Part of this is due to the fact that the change of title of EK is hardly more than that. He will remain the executive president and, even in the announcement of Gustav Södersröm and Alex Norström, appointed the new CEOs, EK immediately underestimated their authority, saying: “Gustav and Alex will continue to realize … I will be more practical than some of my American peers who have a title of president.” When he was asked for clarification on the change in the role of EK, Spotify refused to comment.
So, EK could put back a few Responsibility for daily operations, but it will always be important on the decisions of the company. Jeremy Leadird-Koch, who comes out of the music under the name of Jeremy Blake and hosts the Youtube Red channel means recording, deleted his music in July. He said The penis That this conference room mixes “does not change anything”. He quickly pointed out that “an executive president is a key leadership position which conducts the board of directors while occupying an active, strategic and often practical role in daily affairs and executive management of the company”.
Will Anderson of Hotline TNT had a similar take point, told The penis“According to the admission of the company, nothing will change. Their declaration indicates that the move” formalizes the way Spotify has successfully worked since 2023 “. For me, it looks like society is aware of changing the public feeling and tries to make known a small title adjustment so that their CEO is redirected a good will before things of snow.”
“The rare thing that the Republicans and the Democrats of the Senate seem to agree is that Spotify is out of control.”
Colin Volvert, director of labels at Kalahari Oyster Cult, who pulled his full catalog of Spotify in June, was also without traffic. “We remain attentive to developments, but as it stands, it is not more than a management focused on the optics,” he said The penis. “Not exactly the own slate we hoped for. More likely, it frees him from continuing his more controversial efforts.”
What Anderson, Leadird-Koch and others have clearly indicated is that it has never been about Daniel Ek. Anderson says: “Our problems with this particular streaming platform go far beyond a reptile.” His “AI Battle Tech” funding “, to use Deerhoof’s drummer’s lyrics, Greg Saunier, was only the last thing in a litany of problems. Satomi Matsuzaki, the singer of Deerhoof, was unequivocal in a declaration to The penis::
“We will not return to Spotify unless they start to treat each artist respectfully and pay them a good amount. They must stop making money using AI scams. Artists find it difficult to survive. Spotify payment of $ 0.003 per flow will not even make us a box of sodif.
Spotify payments have long been the biggest problem for artists and, without change, it is unlikely that this recent exodus slows down. Spotify has one of the lowest rates by industry flow. Most estimates place him between $ 0.003 and $ 0.005 in recent years. (Although Spotify’s opaque method to calculate the royalties makes it difficult to know with certainty.) This is the main reason why the big names like Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift have drawn their music from the service in the past, although the two artists finally returned. And for small artists, those whose tracks obtain less than 1,000 flows per year, payment is $ 0. The payments of the company are so weak, in fact, that it drew the attention of the European Parliament and the US Congress.
The problem goes beyond artists simply underestimated. In 2024, the company changed its premium plan to include audio books, which allowed it to remove fees from fees by bringing audio books with music. With many more hours of content to divide subscription income between payments, fees of fees dropped by $ 150 million, while Spotify’s income continued to climb considerably. The sneaky tactics that the company uses to artificially eliminate the fees was even the target of a bipartite appeal to an investigation in June – the rare thing that the Republicans and the Democrats of the Senate seem to be heard is that Spotify is out of control.
Leadird-Koch considers this profit enhancement on art as the ultimate problem. “Spotify will have to make Herculean efforts to make tons of harmful choices back down to their platform over the years. I do not see this happening with a listed company which is liable to generate profits for shareholders,” he said.
Some artists have proven that, although it is not always easy, you can find success without Spotify. Joanna Newsom has never put her music on Spotify, calling her a “nasty cabale” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. And Cindy Lee made a critical darling with Pitchfork N ° 1 record in 2024, Seventy -year -oldBut the album is not available on streaming platforms.
Between the proliferation of the soil AI, the association with controversial figures and terrible fees, Spotify has many other luggage beyond the investment of Daniel EK in military companies. Jamie Stewart of XIU XIU told Anthony Fantano that “We who were Spotify would make no real financial impact for them. It really has more to do with our conscience. ” But Anderson was a little more optimistic about the ability of artists to make a change: “It seems that Spotify is shaken, and they should be.”
