We realize that a lot of artists are impacted in the short term by COVID and the impact it has on the live industry. “There are two different trends here worth picking apart. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.” Translation: never stop making music. “The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.Įk continued, “There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, 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.”ĭaniel Ek does have a way to solve the problem though, and it doesn’t include providing further financial assistant to artists through increased royalty rates. In private have done that many times, but in public they have no incentive to do it. What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who’s talking about… In the entire existence I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single artist saying ‘I’m happy with all the money I’m getting from streaming,’” Ek said to Music Ally. “Even today on our marketplace, there’s literally millions and millions of artists. “It is clear that the pro rata model favors the few top-tier artists who get the biggest amounts of ,” Digital Media Finland shared with Rolling Stone in 2018. Each song’s earnings are based on how much that song is played but in comparison with the streaming service’s most popular tracks. Royalties on Spotify operate through a “pro-rata” format. They get priority placement on the company’s curated playlists while smaller, independent artists have to find creative ways to get their music discovered without falling victim to the algorithm. Bigger artists backed by the major label system dominate these streaming services, especially on Spotify. The economic model streaming services rely upon has been maligned by artists the world over, especially by songwriters.

Spotify ceo to musicians