Why Spotify Pays So Little

Post by Guvante » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 4:51 PM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #5

nicpottier wrote: post #3

Is the description of Spotify's model to pay artists accurate? It sounds suspiciously simple, free of any special deals with labels to get artists on board etc... (which I had just assumed was a necessary evil) And do total stream divisions take into account only premium accounts? Or do they also include free ones? Because ya, as a premium user, I really do want (and perhaps naively expected) my $9/mo split between t…

Money to pay the artists listened to by free users needs to come from somewhere. I don't think artists and rightsholders are willing to accept a lower per-play revenue from free users. Which means I doubt that the ad revenue is enough to support the free accounts without subsidy from paid users. (The ad revenue isn't nothing, and the ads helps encourage conversion to paid user, so they're not without value to Spotify…

Post by patmcc » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

Post by tptacek » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 4:53 PM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #12

tpeaton wrote: post #6

Spotify has been villified since the beginning, and I certainly want a more fair system to exist for artists. That said, has there EVER been a business model in the US that was profitable for artists? I don't think there was ever money in music for artists from album sales. The cost of distributing and promoting music is just more expensive than making an album.

Is it actually the case that signing record contracts was always a bad deal for artists? I was under the impression that they reduced risk for artists who could then use money from the contract as a more stable source of income to pay for, say, childcare expenses.

Post by kochthesecond » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 4:58 PM UTC

tpeaton wrote: post #6

Spotify has been villified since the beginning, and I certainly want a more fair system to exist for artists. That said, has there EVER been a business model in the US that was profitable for artists? I don't think there was ever money in music for artists from album sales. The cost of distributing and promoting music is just more expensive than making an album.

Post by thomasahle » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 4:59 PM UTC

patmcc wrote: post #13

Why are light listeners like the example paying for Spotify? Shouldn't they just stick to the free version rather than going for premium? Following this suggested model, free users listening wouldn't help the artists at all - is that really desirable?