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Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

thefader.com

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Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify isn't saying that if an artist doesn't put out material every 3 months they'll be de-ranked. That's absolutely not the idea here. What they're saying is that in the current climate, you have to fight for attention, and rapid, small releases achieve that. A quick check of Dawn of Solace's Spotify page and tour schedule shows me that they're active but probably not making full-time jobs out of this. And that's…

The CEO of Spotify was saying that we have a glut of music and customers don't care much about which music they get, and Spotify has won control of the distribution channel, so there's no money for artists but they need to crank out content to stay in the rat race and lower Spotify's costs even more, or somehow form a strong union and market themselves as premium content. But he put an obnoxious self-serving spin on…

Yeah frankly I was shocked how obnoxious this argument he's making is. "No it's not that we don't pay artists enough, they just need to be working for us twice as hard to make money these days. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ " At least have grace to act like you can't pay artists more, instead of just saying "well you'd better work harder then, haha."

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#692
post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs never said that, so maybe avoid putting it in quotes.

Does "just avoid holding it that way" satisfy you?

Of course. If people are going to make poor analogies and mock a quote that has nothing to do with the topic at hand, at least get the quote right. It's not asking too much, is it?

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> selling CD's/BluRays's, collectible box-sets, stickers, pins Hmmm... it's a shame they're trying to sell stuff like this. I want to support artists but the last thing I want is junk.

This is silly. If you want to support an artist, give them money.

So set up an organised way for me to do that, e.g. Patreon. Some artists already do.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#694
post #31

> Ek claimed that a "narrative fallacy" had been created and caused music fans to believe that Spotify doesn't pay musicians enough for streams of their music. Fallacy? Scores of well-known musicians, from Bette Midler to Taylor Swift, have talked about how little they make through Spotify and other streaming platforms. IIRC Swift only joined the platform after cutting a special deal. Not everyone can do this. Quotin…

How little they make, compared to what? Streaming has basically saved the music industry, finally getting revenues to go up after about 15 years of decline. Spotify pays out 70% of its revenue to labels and artists. I wonder what percentage would satisfy people.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#695
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What's he going to record a song about?" "Nothing." "Spotify'll kill him." "I guess they will." "He must have got mixed up in something with the music industry." "I guess so," said Nick. "It's a hell of a thing." "It's an awful thing," Nick said. They did not say anything. George reached down for his mobile phone and wiped the screen. "I wonder what he did?" Nick said. "Failed to write enough songs fast enough to ge…

God help me, I can't tell if this is GPT-3 or not. If you told me it was I'd believe you.

"This writing looks computer-generated" as a compliment is kind of blowing my mind

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#696

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this very model has prevented hip hop from evolving and instead we ended up with mumble rap which feels like a step backwards in multiple ways. Music has become all gimmick, fueled by celebrity gossip and social media bullshit. It's samey as hell and stagnant and lacks innovation.

Which is the sad reality. There are definitely talented rappers that work their tails off to produce great lyrics, in some cases their own beats / tracks and are being overshadowed by what I call pop rap (you can throw mumble rap under than umbrella). I can only imagine the same is happening in other genres. The one decent thing about rap was always all the mixtapes on the other hand.

That's just how popular music and pop culture works. Internet and streaming did enable long-tail though. Its way easier to listen to and find those underground rappers compared to 20 years ago.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#697
post #677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even without physical media, I'd rather pay for a copy of the music I can "own" (I.e. like a physical CD) from Bandcamp as the revenue the artist gets is _significantly_ higher than a dozen streams of the same album on Spotify. At the end of the day, I want the artist to continue producing music, and prefer to find a channel by which they get the most revenue. IMHO Bandcamp is one of the best things to happen to the…

If Bandcamp has better quality, that should be the selling point (IMO)

I disagree. Name your price is the selling point. Effectively a donation option for your favorite small artists.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this very model has prevented hip hop from evolving and instead we ended up with mumble rap which feels like a step backwards in multiple ways. Music has become all gimmick, fueled by celebrity gossip and social media bullshit. It's samey as hell and stagnant and lacks innovation.

> we ended up with mumble rap > It's samey as hell and stagnant I don't follow rap, but these two claims seem contradictory. Is the first not evidence of evolution in the genre, if in a direction you don't like?

I think the claim is that mumble rap dominates this new ecosystem, that this ecosystem is less diverse, and that this ecosystem does not seem to be changing significantly.

I have no idea about Spotify or mumble rap but that's how they might not contradict.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#700

I used to work in the music industry professionally, on the ground level doing booking and management. This trend has been happening slowly for nearly a decade but it’s finally here. Rap and Hip Hop figured out a long time before most other genres that rapid small releases was a far better way to keep hype and sales up. Before Spotify was a thing, the shift was happening with YouTube but it wasn’t as predominant. Now…

Except this very model has prevented hip hop from evolving and instead we ended up with mumble rap which feels like a step backwards in multiple ways. Music has become all gimmick, fueled by celebrity gossip and social media bullshit. It's samey as hell and stagnant and lacks innovation.

New Yorkers said the same thing about all southern rappers decades ago and now many of those artists and songs they panned are considered classics. Rap doesn't have to fit some narrowly defined category where all artists are doing the same style during a given period.

You can also like conscious rappers calling for social change and still enjoy a club banger asking women to shake their butts. They aren't diametrically opposed.

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