How can the government let this happen. If you walk in a store a steal a tasty kake pie worth $2 or a frying pan worth $40 it's still stealing and treated as such. Spotify should be allowed to take even a dollar from a legitimate earned stream. Would it be legal for any employer to deduct $5 out of every employees Check every pay period and give it to an employee they favorite in upper management. No, that would be illegal. How can Spotify get away with this, it doesn't matter what the major labels want or even what the major artist want. Everyone is entitled to want they earn no matter how little. This is stealing from the poor to give to the rich. This cannot stand, wrong is wrong. And this is stealing, period..🤨
Agreed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
Spotify stole my royalties early this year and I warned many individuals, especially those on Spotify Facebook groups that this was about to happen. No one believed me and started accusing me of having fake streams. CD Baby did nothing to help me. Back in the day when CD Baby still spoke to people on the telephone. If something went wrong they would have an investigation on the artist's behalf. Then you will receive a series of emails keeping you abreast of the investigation until it comes to close. But when this happened to me now in the present, CD Baby policy is to not question Spotify and they do nothing about it. I do not expect any of these distributors to act on our behalf. They are partially in cahoots. If I'm wrong prove it to me. It is up to you using your platform to gather up artists so we could put together a class action lawsuit about this. One that will make a loud noise that also forces Congress will have to take action.
Sell physical media only. Why give your entire product away online? Make teaser videos of your music and sell CD's/Vinyl. That which is freely given can never be valued the same as that which was earned.
Agreed, royalties should be distributed to their rightful owners. Spotify has no right to marginalise based on the amount earned, it is not their job to decide who does or doesn't deserve to receive royalties.
THIS. Not just individual artists, but entire distributors and aggregators should tell Spotify to eff off, and stop distributing to them. The sooner the better, so that Spotify reverses that decision ASAP. I mean the distributors aren't going to make money either off of 90% of their artists when they distribute to Spotify (which is usually by far the biggest platform, or used to be). The problem is that independent artists are the ones getting screwed, but individually, them pulling their music off of Spotify will just hurt themselves and Spotify won't care or even notice, so not so many artists will really be willing to follow through, lest they lose out on the exposure. Spotify has all the power. It would take a huge collective movement to have any real effect, but aggregators could have that effect much more quickly. (This also confirms that no, I will not be paying for a Spotify subscription for myself.)
What is interesting to me is that authors don't have these issues. The self-published authors are thriving in all genres and on Amazon, they get paid per page read and it is not a tiny amount!!! How is it that musicians are not as lucky.@@ModusVivendiMedia
This is the most disgusting thing I've heard in music. I'm in a small indie band who fall below that threshold, if this goes ahead I'll be removing our music from Spotify and I'll also be cancelling my own personal Spotify premium account.
Agreed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
Tony thanks again for your continued support to indie artists. "We won't be fooled again" ...but here we go again. These corporate rascals are biting the hand that feeds them. I didn't sign up with CDbaby to not be paid. Class action suit, where is Taylor Swift when you need here. We need somebody to call these practices out. As you bluntly said, this is theft. Also as you suggested, indie artists are possibly the stars of tomorrow on the corporate roster, they inspire local communities with their work. They are warriors on the front lines of music making. My $30 a month means a lot to me and like you I want it. I'm writing everyone I can and share this video.
This is just plain stupid! We as independent artists have worked so hard on our crafts and creativity, providing REAL music (better than what these major labels are putting out), just to have a streaming platform determine who gets paid and who doesn't? Come on! That's robbery to the highest level. Who are they to steal from hard working musicians who hold day jobs to support their families? I would rather support an independent artist whose REAL music gets less than a thousand streams than support a major artist producing garbage. Are you hearing us, Spotify? As an independent artist myself, my albums get less than a thousand streams, but have a loyal fan base who prefer physical CDs and make up for what Spotify is doing. It seems that Spotify is legalizing (and condoning) stealing. This is crazy! I stand with countless independent artists to end this madness. This needs to stop right now!
I like the idea of selling physical CDs -- but anyone who would want to buy a CD would probably not want one that was burned on a private CD burner with a hand-written label on them. They would want a nice CD with nice artwork printed on it, and probably a nice jewel-case with a good jewel-case insert as well -- and the minimum order for making those would probably be WAY more than I can afford given that my fan-base is way too small for me to even guarantee that I will even sell ONE.
@@redangelsophiasvideoproduc92 Exactly 💯. This is why I never sell CDs that were burned in a home. There's no authenticity in that. That's like giving fans a cheap product; something they don't want or deserve. I believe in giving fans a real CD containing liner notes, photos, credits, and a bar code. Authenticity rules over artificial.
This is real, and it looks like it's happening 🤬 Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
I remember as a kid walking into Mom and Pop shops and every one of them had their first dollar they ever earned in a frame behind the counter. There's something about getting that first dollar that motivates you to push yourself harder to do better. One dollar will never pay any bills but it can change your mindset. You start realizing you are a real professional artist and if you can earn one dollar maybe next month you can double it. With this garbage they are taking away the drive and motivation of the artist. How do I know? Because in 2016 UA-cam changed the monetization requirements where you had to have a certain number of subscribers and a certain amount of viewer watch time in order to stay monetized. I had already built it up with a number of UA-cam channels where I was earning money not every month but I was getting a check probably 4 - 6 times a year. Then they changed the deal yanked by monetization and it took all the wind out of my sails and I haven't posted another video since 2016 yet if someone were to go and watch my videos UA-cam will post a commercial and make money off of that revenue. With music I thought I was protected by laws but evidently the rules are changing I thought they were required to pay me even if it was .000007 per stream. Silly me.
Yes, I agree completely about UA-cam monetization. At that time, I was happy when my channel grows up and was close to be approved for monetization, just before they changed the rules... Now, I have only approx. 850 subscribers to my channel, it slowly grows, but I am still under their new requirements. And what makes me angry, is that they add advertising on my own videos, and that they make money with my work, without that I can still get a part of it...
exact same thing happened to me. I had just earned my first 5 dollars from YT and then they changed the rules and I pretty much gave up trying to grow the channel. It just felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me, and the hope that I could earn a bit from it, just was like a deflating balloon. I still, years later, haven't hit the impossible 1000 subs - if you're just posting original music videos, 1000 subscribers mark and the watch time is nearly impossible. So to get there you'd need to pivot and change your entire content to be something more clickable,, or to make videos about something else entirely just to reach their stupid threshold in any kind of timely manner. Really still hate UA-cam after this. It really turned me against them.
Yes, this is outrageous. During an initial release, you get promotion from Spotify, but after that, not so much. Means I will have to now only release singles, and not albums.
Let sue them. Before I submit my songs to cd baby I always register them in the library of congress to avoid any clowns to steal my songs and their revenue. This is music business communism.
Bravo. Time to fight. They're playing a game of divide and conquer and I pray artists see through it. They keep pounding the idea that this will be good for "real artists". I've been saying, the whole "real artists" thing is a tactic used by dictators. When they want to abuse a group they start referring to them as roaches and other names so people don't think about their humanity and don't feel guilt about their abuse. I already see a lot of indie artists that feel they'll benefit salivating thinking this is good news for them. Little do they know, they're next. If we don't fight, this is only the beginning. That threshold will go up.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. This practice is plain wrong on any level that you can think of . What arrogance! To say, that because an independent artist doesn't get the streams of a major artist, their royalties will be distributed to those majors who really don't this money anyway. It's theft. Where is BMI in this? Are they doing anything to call out Spotify's proposal? They are the performing rights organizations looking out for the rights of the music artist, aren't they? I'm thinking of pulling my tracks out & being my own distributer with Cds, mail order, whatever, at least then you would know you were being paid. What bullshit!
You know what we really need? Remember when Neil Young pulled his songs? Or the time Taylor Swift pulled her catalog? That is when Spotify listens. When a name artist steps in, then they back down. Would one of them do the same for indie artists? Because there was a time when all artists were unsigned indies. Just a thought. Yes, I contacted my representatives who support the Music Fairness Act, and my distributors. Cheers!
Even if I earn $1 from my music - that is my dollar. How can it be right that this dollar is effectively "black boxed" and given to a record company that I don't even want to be part of. The unfortunate part of all of this is that there does not seem to be an alternative. For me, getting my music heard is the main objective. Earning money off that is a bonus. But ultimately if I can earn $1, then if I work hard enough, why can't I earn more - maybe even a living from my music? This move by Spotify has just made it a whole lot more difficult for independent artists. It may only be $1 - but it is my dollar.
Spot on! Tony! I was furious when I got Spotify's email this week. I make less than $100 per year on royalties from streams of my band's (Vacant City Drifters) album 'Empty Relics', so it's not a lot of money. But it's flat out theft ! It's already an obscenely low royalty rate and now they wanna just steal it! I'm not optimistic but I'm emailing my congress critters and tweeting at spotify yo fix it!
We're ticked off for you and all the indie artists getting screwed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
It's funny that much of the crap that is out there is worse than low quality. Many of them pull loops from a browser from a music software like Logic Pro X, Ableton, etc and try to sing or rap garbage and sell this non music crap to the public. The day will come when these Bozos will get humble. God will see to that because what goes around comes around. And the day will come when Spotify will get bit in the butt hard. I appreciate this information and ways to deal with this unfair situation to artists like myself trying to break into the music industry. Thank you Tony Van Veen.
Our money, our property, our music... This is the most gruesome wide open theft and "all mayors" and "music streaming platforms" are quiet. Total BS! Thanks for this video and thanks for standing with all artist.
Let's hit them with a class-action lawsuit! A boycott would be another option. Remember what happened to Bud Lite? Let's hit them in their pocketbooks!
This is maddening. This is why it is so critical for music fans to OWN THEIR MUSIC. Buy CDs, buy MP3s, do whatever you can to support the artist directly!
That's what Bandcamp is all about. Artists get 82% of money generated by sold products or downloads. Why fool with Crapify? Even some of the "majors" moved to Bandcamp.
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
My letter to my Member of Parliament, here in the UK, has now been passed on to the appropriate Minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. I suggest that any UK artists reading this also write to their MPs to make sure they get the message.
Thank you for posting this. Spotify started taking down my most popular tracks about a year ago without ANY warning or contacting me. After hearing this video, I think the most powerful thing the independent artist can do is remove all of their music from Spotify - and any other platform that doesn't pay - and send their listeners to the platforms that do.
Glad you expressed this. People are missing the point of this issue. The dollar amount isn't what's relevant, it's the principle! Thank you for helping mobilize efforts against this.
Agreed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
I'm completely with you Tony, and thank you for this video! I just wrote to my aggregators/distributors (just before clicking on this video, actually) and asked that they: 1) Tell Spotify that they won't distribute ANY new tracks, on behalf of any artists, to Spotify as soon as the
This is also me news I love it physical media alll the wayyyyy 😂🤣🤣💿💿💿😎🎵🎵🎵🎧 let’s support artist and buy CDs 💿 and records and force people to buy physical media so artist get paid for their music 🎶 CDs 💿 better sound quality and u own the music I feel bad cause once the streaming platform raise their prices people are going to payyyuuu so money to rent music and never own anything in life 🤔🤔🤔
Of course, it is obvious, ... not paying artist royalties is illegal. It seems this is already a law. Besides that, distributing your royalties to any other person without your signed consent is also illegal.
Let them know! artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
Hi Tony, I agree with you 100% on your perception of all three changes Spotify has proposed. I also agree with your reaction to Lucien "The arrogant" and his comment that independently released music is not worthy. I will follow your advice and reach out to my congressman. I think that the 3 largest indie distributors should band together and create a new platform that is centric towards independently released music with generous royalty rates, transparent editorial playlist selection, and reasonably priced advertising opportunities solely for independently released music. It occurs to me that Spotify's main power to generate revenue is based on the depth of their content library. If artists' find a better DSP royalty rate elsewhere and remove their content for Spotify it will create holes in their library which will lead to diminished subscription revenue. I'm hoping that in the long run, this unfair decision by Spotify might trigger some needed action in the streaming marketplace that will help independent artists. Tony, thanks for taking the time to represent the best interests of artists like myself!
Hey Tony, I appreciate your outrage and decision to jump in the ring. I am %100 with you. Thank you for giving some direction and taking a leadership role, using your position to make a difference.
Thank you, Tony. I actually wrote to my three congressional representatives, and I asked Spotify very nicely to reconsider this new policy. Now that this has been taken care of, I'm looking forward to making lots of money via streaming.
Thank you Tony for standing up for artists. I've seen distributor CEOs from the likes of Stem who says that this new model will actually "benefit" the indie artists. This is complete nonsense. This will cripple creativity and motivation from upstart artists who sees these small checks as motivation to move forward with their careers.
I am writing to express my appreciation as an independent artist for this video. You are echoing our thoughts that they want to steal our rights, as evidenced by Spotify's disappointing decision.
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
I'm an indie artist and released my first album 2 years ago. It was inspiring to actually get paid for creating music. Now Spotify wants to take that away!!! I don't make much money on my music, but it just isn't right to take what little I earn and give to some multi-millionaire artist. I'll be pulling my music off Spotify if they decide to STEAL my royalties.
I am VERY GRATEFUL that you created this video explanation, Tony. I was somewhat stunned when I read about this "steal from the poor to reward the rich" proposal by Spotify leadership. I am sending email to my state (MA) and national (USA) senators and representatives with a link to your video. I agree - let's create a big groundswell of attention ffor this very greedy and unethical idea.
Merchants of Garbage? That would piss me off! Splatiify just shat their britches. They ain't gettin' my subscription $$ no more. Moving to Apple Music 01/01/24 I see a lawsuit coming on. and everyone should know their congress critters, or other elected lawmakers,cuz this goes beyond the USA.
I think the independent music industry, even the 'top" artists, such as Taylor Swift, Drake, etc., to put pressure on Spotify to reverse this 1000 streams bullshit. That is stealing.
Agreed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
I have three albums on Spotify (soon to be four) which will be 37 songs on the platform. My songs on Spotify generate small royalties that go to my distributor (along with royalties from other streaming platforms) and I'm paid once a threshold of $100 is reached - which happens several times a year. While not a lot of money, it ends up being a decent chunk for repairing or upgrading equipment. Spotify will now be stealing my royalties and giving them to bigger artists. How is this fair? It doesn't seem legal to me to just refuse to pay royalties on intellectual property that you are streaming (no matter how many plays). I'm also curious where the "1000" came from. Why not 5000? Maybe next year... This really pisses me off!
I presently have 9 hours of music on Spotify that in the past I have promoted. I was preparing to start a promotional campaign attempting to get more streams on the service. And guess what? That won’t be happening. I will send traffic to another platform before I let them steal my royalties. One suggestion. Would you or someone create a document, posts, that we can use to send to our congressional representatives?
We need a "starter" letter that we can personally embellish with our own stories that we can send to Congress, organized for maximum impact instead of a slow trickle. Not much time to do this before 1/1/24 though. Never-the-less, we must take action. I'm in!
I was already pissed off at them and I took down all of my CDs from streaming now I'm totally convinced that everyone should leave, minors and majors alike, someone has to create something that dignifies artists, there's got to be a way! Fu.... Thieves!
Thanks Tony! Great discussion. Spotify's actions sounds like the general "run of the mill" Monopoly Scam. I was working in Los Angeles as a temporary Conductor for the BNSF in 2000. I talked to the Regional Superintendent, a smart and friendly guy. He was young and obviously on his way up, fast. What struck me was his comment about how the railroads needed to consolidate to be more efficient. Basically, he was saying our country needed one big Monopolized railroad. These big Companies' CEOs can rationalize their greed and ambition quite easily. The Greed in this country, especially at the top of major industries, is out of control.
I’m honestly livid right now…this is such BS. I have 1k+ on a lot of my songs, but that’s half of my catalog (about 50/100). Not all of them have been up for a year yet, but that’s besides the point. The thing that bothers me the most is the money that is rightfully ours is going to people who don’t even need the money…like at all.
Tony - thanks for your video. When this news first broke I was outraged also and wanted to do something about it but I don’t have the name or brand recognition to make enough noise on it. You calling for the other larger businesses in the industry to unite will do that so thank you for organizing this. What I don’t understand is how the government can allow them to do this. Not licensing / paying royalties for the public use of music, even if it is only 1 stream, is illegal, right? Isn’t it a violation of the law for royalties from stream #1 not being paid?
Thank you Tony. My songs are all way under 1000 streams. I was hoping some would hit or get on a "hot" playlist. I recently pulled all content and deleted my spotify account. I am sick of the little guys getting ripped off, ignored and dismissed. There are other ways to sell my music.
I would be happy to remove my tracks from Spotify and cancel my subscription with them if they don’t stop their theft. If CD Baby took a stand against Spotify, I would support them.
This shouldn’t be allowed! How can the major record labels be allowed to tell the streaming service what to do? We should take our music off Spotify if we can’t have the royalties no one can.
Thanks for this video Tony. If Indie is such "garbage" then perhaps the appropriate response is for Indie distributors to create their own streaming platform, and we artists move our garbage to that new platform.
The only way to win this battle is to go 'direct to consumer' if the fans truly want your music they will get it from your website along with the rest of your content. Receiving %1 of what you're suppose to get is just silly. GO DIRECT
Thank you for sharing, this video was excellent and easy to understand. Like it’s not already hard enough (or expensive enough) to be an independent artist, now take away the few dollars we make and give them to the artists who are already generating an income. He’s right, this is theft. Did anyone do the math on how much extra each “qualifying” artist would average with our money?
A lot of articles are trying to spin this as a good thing, like "who's going to miss $3 in royalties anyway?" But what about someone who has 10 albums, each with 20 tracks, none of which get over 1000 plays on Spotify in a year, but let's say average 500 plays each. That's 200 tracks x 500 plays = 100,000 total plays per year, or $300 that Spotify will now steal from that artist each year. As if it wasn't bad enough that performers don't get paid for radio plays, now most of them won't get paid for Spotify plays either? It's a terrible move to make. Not that $300/year is going to pay the rent, but it's still freaking $300 that Spotify owes the artist (or label) but now refuses to pay, because they want to take all that money and use it to pay Taylor Swift EVEN MORE (or just goose their profit). Independent artists are trying to cobble together lots of small revenue streams into a modest living, and taking away possibly the most substantial revenue source from streaming is pretty sh*tty of Spotify, especially when they're just going to use it to a) pad their pockets and b) give it to the artists who already make more money than they know what to do with.
Exactly! They can say that the smaller artist won't really miss that $300 or whatever. But that's not true. I would. Plus, I say that $300 won't mean a thing to Taylor Swift or Gaga or Gagme or whoever. Nothing but pure theft.
it's gonna take a gutsy pull the catalog protest move from a big time artist for them to listen. in the immortal words of princess Leia, This is our most desperate hour. Help us, Taylor Swift. You're our only hope.
An analogy would be an employer who says "you can have the job, but if you work less than 20 hours in a given week, we just won't pay you at all for that week. Even if you work every week of the year for a total of say 900 hours, you might earn $0 for the year because you never hit the 20 hour threshold in any given week."
Hi. This is bullshit. From Adelaide in South Australia. My band's name is First Kiss on Mars. It's hard enough as an indie band without being ripped off in more ways! Thanks for alerting us to this. You are a superstar!
As if I needed one more reason to despise what corporations have done to my earnings. I’m not the least bit surprised, tbh. I hold no hope of any intervention on our behalf by a joke of a government that can’t even keep itself open. Direct action is the far better plan. I would withdraw all of my music from this platform if I thought it would do any good. I’ll certainly be contacting the labels I work with, and be prepared to withdraw my independent releases in support of this, accompanied by a message to the platform. Thank you for making this video, Tony!!
@@Golden-Boy-Mike I mean that the law (as it stands now) may permit Spotify to get away with it. I don't actually know if it does, though. I agree with Tony's position on this.
@@Golden-Boy-Mike Probably just that whatever contract they have with aggregators, distributors, and major labels might amount to something along the lines of "if you send us tracks, we have the right to put them up, or take them down, at our discretion, and we'll pay you whatever we pay you, or not, also at our discretion."
Tony, thank you for this video. I agree totally with your comments. My question to you is, Is Spotify trying to get all the ‘minor’ artists to pull their music off the platform? And assuming that they go through with this plan, should artist consider pulling music off the platform? I agree totally with you that this is BS and is theft by taking.
Thank you Tony. Your point is "spot" on. It's a symptom of the dark underbelly of the digital world. In the guise of efficiency and optimization the smallest get marginalized or "disappeared". "Flyover country"?!?! There's a lot of great art down there, and in the apartments and alleyways of the cities. That's where all great art originates.
We've just had a quick meeting and decided to replace our show on Spotify with a very short 1-2 ms "episode" where we tell what the folks are missing out and where they can hear it.
You are so CORRECT!!! There is nothing that I can add to your commentary. I had already read about this in Music Business World. It seems as though along with BMI's new commercial business model idea, all of the corporate types are creating ways to further mis-use the artist, a create their own version of corporate GREED. I will definitely be taking your advice and writing to all congressional entities that I can ASAP.
I'm all about physical merch/CDs etc., as I think most independent musicians are. The trouble is convincing the average listener of its importance toward sustaining us.
Yes keep buying CDs 💿 and records in aomeba records in Hollywood And support artist 😎😎😎 let this whole losers of new generation keep streaming their cheap ass music on their cheap ass cell phones 📞 🤣🥲🤣🤣😂 and never own any music
That is a great point. Physical product would definitely fix this and certainly revitalize the music industry unmanly levels, especially in mechanical royalties. Right now the mechanical royalty on a stream is a tiny fraction of a penny. With physical product the mechanical royalty is about 12 cents. That is a hug difference!
Honestly, Spotify and Apple and the likes of them are ALL BS! Musicians need to band together to make these companies pay more for a song being streamed the first time. After that, the listener essentially owns the stream, like they would a record or CD, and then a lesser royalty can be paid if they listen to it over and over. Appreciate u Tony! and thanks for doing my first mastering recently.
I've been working on a solution to all of this for the past 3 years, but my company is looking for devs and other industry pros that want to get on board to put an end to all of this! It's time to put the power back in the hands of those who deserve it!!!
Seriously, anyone looking to get involved, this is a great opportunity for independent artists of ALL mediums around the globe to finally get the recognition and the compensation they deserve. We are already working with a few major producers and other industry professionals to build the foundation for a "legitimate" global independent art industry whose sucsess is not dictated by the status quo! It's time to show these people who really holds the key to their success! WITHOUT ARTISTS, THERE IS NO SPOTIFY! LET'S SEE HOW WELL THEY DO WHEN THEY ONLY HAVE A HANDFUL OF MAJOR LABEL ARTISTS AND NO INDEPENDENTS!!!
Been thinking for a while now about pulling the plug altogether on spotify and just focus on digital sales through own website and merch... I guess this is the time to do just that.
It would be interesting to see which side of the line big time artists/"influencers" fall on this one. Will profit and greed keep them silent on the sidelines or will they use their individual and collective voices to call this out publicly too? Influencers will have the most immediate impact. DIY and DSP resistance is important but that road is a long haul. Taylor, fire up those Swifties. Bono, remember Cedarwood Road where your music adventure all began. Billie, Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce, Eminem, Olivia, Miley, Dolly, Post, Drake, Bad Bunny, Sting, Genesis? Will it be crickets or fireworks? Tony, I am of course, assuming Taylor will be watching your video : )…Thx again for the awareness!!!
Re: UMG’s antics, my band posted a live recording of a performance of an original song, and it was copyright claimed by UMG. We appealed it through UA-cam and received a strike and were told that we risked losing out entire channel. The song was in a completely different key, a different tempo, and had a totally different groove to the song they claimed it infringed on. That’s been one of our most popular videos, and we haven’t received any money for that video. Of our original song.
Thank you for covering this! I figured you would after I sent you the email about it. Just another way to screw independents, as if streaming was paying enough to begin with! Streams are streams. If someone is listening to my song, rather it gets 100 listens, or 1 million, I should be paid for those listens, period.... I hope someone files a lawsuit on behalf of the independents. It may be time to go to lawmakers and start to push new legislation to stop this erosion of out revenues and rights.
... or, if 2/3 of the artists on Spotify pull their music and move it to a platform that WILL pay them, that sends a much bigger message than getting government's nose (and hands) further into our business.
I have a couple thoughts on this: 1. It would be great if major artists got together and "strike" against Spotify in order to help protect the little guys. This is a large part of what was behind the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which were as much to protect the talents who earn far less as it was to protect talent rights in general. Particularly in the face of the growing threat of AI to creatives. 2. Streaming is not a working financial or business model. I don't even think Spotify is out of the red and has never been, from what I understand. I realize I could be wrong about that... But frankly the way this is done, the way it HAS been done for years, is not something that will sustain itself. So companies like Spotify will always be trying to find new ways to sustain themselves through changes like this. It has nothing to do with the artists. It has to do with Spotify, the sheer lack of capital against volume (I mean somewhere on this thread was a comment that 1000 plays equals $5... that is NOT a working business model for ANYONE). Streaming in general is just not going to survive unless it's overhauled, and unfortunately that overhaul may mean indies like us get cut out entirely. It'll be like trying to get your show on Netflix.
Where are all the songwriters attorneys. L.A., Nashville, New York. Why aren’t these guys flooding D.C.? It should be at least $0.07 per stream just like in a jukebox.
Agreed! Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme: www.senate.gov www.house.gov
Spotify don't even pay fairly from the get go... Napster,Tidal, and apple music are the highest paid... I don't see them making all of these adjustments... Independent Artist need to stop getting their music up on their platform uploaded I bet they will make adjustments in the favor of the independent artist...
The winner takes it all, a proverb that saw its real power unleashed since we have internet based markets. There are more music streaming services but Spotify is by far the most important one. It abuses its market power to discriminate against small (music) suppliers. Tony, you are right and we should not accept this.
How can the government let this happen. If you walk in a store a steal a tasty kake pie worth $2 or a frying pan worth $40 it's still stealing and treated as such. Spotify should be allowed to take even a dollar from a legitimate earned stream. Would it be legal for any employer to deduct $5 out of every employees Check every pay period and give it to an employee they favorite in upper management. No, that would be illegal. How can Spotify get away with this, it doesn't matter what the major labels want or even what the major artist want. Everyone is entitled to want they earn no matter how little. This is stealing from the poor to give to the rich. This cannot stand, wrong is wrong. And this is stealing, period..🤨
Agreed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
Spotify stole my royalties early this year and I warned many individuals, especially those on Spotify Facebook groups that this was about to happen. No one believed me and started accusing me of having fake streams. CD Baby did nothing to help me. Back in the day when CD Baby still spoke to people on the telephone. If something went wrong they would have an investigation on the artist's behalf. Then you will receive a series of emails keeping you abreast of the investigation until it comes to close. But when this happened to me now in the present, CD Baby policy is to not question Spotify and they do nothing about it. I do not expect any of these distributors to act on our behalf. They are partially in cahoots. If I'm wrong prove it to me. It is up to you using your platform to gather up artists so we could put together a class action lawsuit about this. One that will make a loud noise that also forces Congress will have to take action.
Spotify isn't based in the USA. Sweden should be ashamed of Daniel Eck. He is a piece of garbage.
Sell physical media only. Why give your entire product away online? Make teaser videos of your music and sell CD's/Vinyl. That which is freely given can never be valued the same as that which was earned.
Agreed, royalties should be distributed to their rightful owners. Spotify has no right to marginalise based on the amount earned, it is not their job to decide who does or doesn't deserve to receive royalties.
A major label CEO wouldn't say something like that unless he was TERRIFIED of the "garbage". He should look in the mirror.
Seems like there's enough money involved to warrant a good class action suit, must be some hungry lawyers out there.
please get a petition going for congress
Maybe CD Baby and others should pull out of Spotify and take the content away in protest? We aren't going to be paid anyway.
THIS. Not just individual artists, but entire distributors and aggregators should tell Spotify to eff off, and stop distributing to them. The sooner the better, so that Spotify reverses that decision ASAP. I mean the distributors aren't going to make money either off of 90% of their artists when they distribute to Spotify (which is usually by far the biggest platform, or used to be). The problem is that independent artists are the ones getting screwed, but individually, them pulling their music off of Spotify will just hurt themselves and Spotify won't care or even notice, so not so many artists will really be willing to follow through, lest they lose out on the exposure. Spotify has all the power. It would take a huge collective movement to have any real effect, but aggregators could have that effect much more quickly.
(This also confirms that no, I will not be paying for a Spotify subscription for myself.)
What is interesting to me is that authors don't have these issues. The self-published authors are thriving in all genres and on Amazon, they get paid per page read and it is not a tiny amount!!! How is it that musicians are not as lucky.@@ModusVivendiMedia
This is the most disgusting thing I've heard in music.
I'm in a small indie band who fall below that threshold, if this goes ahead I'll be removing our music from Spotify and I'll also be cancelling my own personal Spotify premium account.
Agreed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
Yep. That is 100% stealing. How are they getting away with this?!? What the actual hell.
It's astounding!
Amen brother. Writing to Spotify, TuneCore, and my congress people. Friggin cleptocracy…
Tony thanks again for your continued support to indie artists. "We won't be fooled again" ...but here we go again. These corporate rascals are biting the hand that feeds them. I didn't sign up with CDbaby to not be paid. Class action suit, where is Taylor Swift when you need here. We need somebody to call these practices out. As you bluntly said, this is theft. Also as you suggested, indie artists are possibly the stars of tomorrow on the corporate roster, they inspire local communities with their work. They are warriors on the front lines of music making. My $30 a month means a lot to me and like you I want it. I'm writing everyone I can and share this video.
This is just plain stupid! We as independent artists have worked so hard on our crafts and creativity, providing REAL music (better than what these major labels are putting out), just to have a streaming platform determine who gets paid and who doesn't? Come on! That's robbery to the highest level. Who are they to steal from hard working musicians who hold day jobs to support their families? I would rather support an independent artist whose REAL music gets less than a thousand streams than support a major artist producing garbage. Are you hearing us, Spotify? As an independent artist myself, my albums get less than a thousand streams, but have a loyal fan base who prefer physical CDs and make up for what Spotify is doing. It seems that Spotify is legalizing (and condoning) stealing. This is crazy! I stand with countless independent artists to end this madness. This needs to stop right now!
I like the idea of selling physical CDs -- but anyone who would want to buy a CD would probably not want one that was burned on a private CD burner with a hand-written label on them. They would want a nice CD with nice artwork printed on it, and probably a nice jewel-case with a good jewel-case insert as well -- and the minimum order for making those would probably be WAY more than I can afford given that my fan-base is way too small for me to even guarantee that I will even sell ONE.
@@redangelsophiasvideoproduc92 Exactly 💯. This is why I never sell CDs that were burned in a home. There's no authenticity in that. That's like giving fans a cheap product; something they don't want or deserve. I believe in giving fans a real CD containing liner notes, photos, credits, and a bar code. Authenticity rules over artificial.
This is real, and it looks like it's happening 🤬
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
I remember as a kid walking into Mom and Pop shops and every one of them had their first dollar they ever earned in a frame behind the counter. There's something about getting that first dollar that motivates you to push yourself harder to do better. One dollar will never pay any bills but it can change your mindset. You start realizing you are a real professional artist and if you can earn one dollar maybe next month you can double it. With this garbage they are taking away the drive and motivation of the artist. How do I know? Because in 2016 UA-cam changed the monetization requirements where you had to have a certain number of subscribers and a certain amount of viewer watch time in order to stay monetized. I had already built it up with a number of UA-cam channels where I was earning money not every month but I was getting a check probably 4 - 6 times a year. Then they changed the deal yanked by monetization and it took all the wind out of my sails and I haven't posted another video since 2016 yet if someone were to go and watch my videos UA-cam will post a commercial and make money off of that revenue. With music I thought I was protected by laws but evidently the rules are changing I thought they were required to pay me even if it was .000007 per stream. Silly me.
What a discouraging reminder about UA-cam's changing policies... I agree very much with what you have written about motivation.
Yes, I agree completely about UA-cam monetization. At that time, I was happy when my channel grows up and was close to be approved for monetization, just before they changed the rules... Now, I have only approx. 850 subscribers to my channel, it slowly grows, but I am still under their new requirements. And what makes me angry, is that they add advertising on my own videos, and that they make money with my work, without that I can still get a part of it...
exact same thing happened to me. I had just earned my first 5 dollars from YT and then they changed the rules and I pretty much gave up trying to grow the channel. It just felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me, and the hope that I could earn a bit from it, just was like a deflating balloon. I still, years later, haven't hit the impossible 1000 subs - if you're just posting original music videos, 1000 subscribers mark and the watch time is nearly impossible. So to get there you'd need to pivot and change your entire content to be something more clickable,, or to make videos about something else entirely just to reach their stupid threshold in any kind of timely manner. Really still hate UA-cam after this. It really turned me against them.
As if the music biz couldn't get worse for Indie Artists. Well said and done Tony. Yeah we need to fight this "bullshit"
Yes, this is outrageous. During an initial release, you get promotion from Spotify, but after that, not so much. Means I will have to now only release singles, and not albums.
I suggest everyone email this video to your Congressman.
Yes! I did that yesterday after watching this video - to my state AND federal representatives. Today I will send it to my governor's office.
Let sue them. Before I submit my songs to cd baby I always register them in the library of congress to avoid any clowns to steal my songs and their revenue. This is music business communism.
It isn't communism. It's capitalism and Tony's right. It's theft.
Bravo. Time to fight. They're playing a game of divide and conquer and I pray artists see through it. They keep pounding the idea that this will be good for "real artists". I've been saying, the whole "real artists" thing is a tactic used by dictators. When they want to abuse a group they start referring to them as roaches and other names so people don't think about their humanity and don't feel guilt about their abuse. I already see a lot of indie artists that feel they'll benefit salivating thinking this is good news for them. Little do they know, they're next. If we don't fight, this is only the beginning. That threshold will go up.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. This practice is plain wrong on any level that you can think of . What arrogance! To say, that because an independent artist doesn't get the streams of a major artist, their royalties will be distributed to those majors who really don't this money anyway. It's theft. Where is BMI in this? Are they doing anything to call out Spotify's proposal? They are the performing rights organizations looking out for the rights of the music artist, aren't they? I'm thinking of pulling my tracks out & being my own distributer with Cds, mail order, whatever, at least then you would know you were being paid. What bullshit!
You know what we really need? Remember when Neil Young pulled his songs? Or the time Taylor Swift pulled her catalog? That is when Spotify listens. When a name artist steps in, then they back down. Would one of them do the same for indie artists? Because there was a time when all artists were unsigned indies. Just a thought. Yes, I contacted my representatives who support the Music Fairness Act, and my distributors. Cheers!
Even if I earn $1 from my music - that is my dollar. How can it be right that this dollar is effectively "black boxed" and given to a record company that I don't even want to be part of. The unfortunate part of all of this is that there does not seem to be an alternative. For me, getting my music heard is the main objective. Earning money off that is a bonus. But ultimately if I can earn $1, then if I work hard enough, why can't I earn more - maybe even a living from my music? This move by Spotify has just made it a whole lot more difficult for independent artists. It may only be $1 - but it is my dollar.
Spot on! Tony! I was furious when I got Spotify's email this week. I make less than $100 per year on royalties from streams of my band's (Vacant City Drifters) album 'Empty Relics', so it's not a lot of money. But it's flat out theft ! It's already an obscenely low royalty rate and now they wanna just steal it! I'm not optimistic but I'm emailing my congress critters and tweeting at spotify yo fix it!
Tell your aggregator, distributor, or label that you would support them pulling their entire catalog off of Spotify if the policy change goes through.
Thanks Tony , very disgusting to see this injustice .
We're ticked off for you and all the indie artists getting screwed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
I'm willing to just leave Spotify altogether. That is one of the worst business moves anyone could make.
It's funny that much of the crap that is out there is worse than low quality. Many of them pull loops from a browser from a music software like Logic Pro X, Ableton, etc and try to sing or rap garbage and sell this non music crap to the public. The day will come when these Bozos will get humble. God will see to that because what goes around comes around. And the day will come when Spotify will get bit in the butt hard. I appreciate this information and ways to deal with this unfair situation to artists like myself trying to break into the music industry. Thank you Tony Van Veen.
Our money, our property, our music... This is the most gruesome wide open theft and "all mayors" and "music streaming platforms" are quiet. Total BS! Thanks for this video and thanks for standing with all artist.
Well problem solved buy CDs 💿 and any physical medial if u want to own ur music 🎶
Let's hit them with a class-action lawsuit! A boycott would be another option. Remember what happened to Bud Lite? Let's hit them in their pocketbooks!
That's completely crazy ! I wonder how this could be legal, to give to someone else the royalties of our job...
I'm sick of streaming platforms like Spotify ripping me off! It's bad enough that they fractions of peanuts without them stealing the peanuts!
This is maddening. This is why it is so critical for music fans to OWN THEIR MUSIC. Buy CDs, buy MP3s, do whatever you can to support the artist directly!
Time to go back to physical products
@@imperialmusicentertainment9581 couldn’t agree more
That's what Bandcamp is all about. Artists get 82% of money generated by sold products or downloads. Why fool with Crapify? Even some of the "majors" moved to Bandcamp.
@@imperialmusicentertainment9581 Exactly 💯 👏 🙌.
I expect there will be some lawsuits.
Agree an everything, sir! You are right! I stand by artists not corporate greed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
My letter to my Member of Parliament, here in the UK, has now been passed on to the appropriate Minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. I suggest that any UK artists reading this also write to their MPs to make sure they get the message.
Thank you for posting this. Spotify started taking down my most popular tracks about a year ago without ANY warning or contacting me. After hearing this video, I think the most powerful thing the independent artist can do is remove all of their music from Spotify - and any other platform that doesn't pay - and send their listeners to the platforms that do.
If it goes through I am small so I will probably pull all of my songs off of Spotify.
Glad you expressed this. People are missing the point of this issue. The dollar amount isn't what's relevant, it's the principle! Thank you for helping mobilize efforts against this.
Agreed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
I'm completely with you Tony, and thank you for this video!
I just wrote to my aggregators/distributors (just before clicking on this video, actually) and asked that they:
1) Tell Spotify that they won't distribute ANY new tracks, on behalf of any artists, to Spotify as soon as the
This is also me news I love it physical media alll the wayyyyy 😂🤣🤣💿💿💿😎🎵🎵🎵🎧 let’s support artist and buy CDs 💿 and records and force people to buy physical media so artist get paid for their music 🎶 CDs 💿 better sound quality and u own the music I feel bad cause once the streaming platform raise their prices people are going to payyyuuu so money to rent music and never own anything in life 🤔🤔🤔
Of course, it is obvious, ... not paying artist royalties is illegal. It seems this is already a law. Besides that, distributing your royalties to any other person without your signed consent is also illegal.
Thanks. This is total bullshit. HOW can it slip through the cracks of legality. Yes let's raise Hell.
Let them know! artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
Hi Tony, I agree with you 100% on your perception of all three changes Spotify has proposed. I also agree with your reaction to Lucien "The arrogant" and his comment that independently released music is not worthy. I will follow your advice and reach out to my congressman. I think that the 3 largest indie distributors should band together and create a new platform that is centric towards independently released music with generous royalty rates, transparent editorial playlist selection, and reasonably priced advertising opportunities solely for independently released music. It occurs to me that Spotify's main power to generate revenue is based on the depth of their content library. If artists' find a better DSP royalty rate elsewhere and remove their content for Spotify it will create holes in their library which will lead to diminished subscription revenue. I'm hoping that in the long run, this unfair decision by Spotify might trigger some needed action in the streaming marketplace that will help independent artists. Tony, thanks for taking the time to represent the best interests of artists like myself!
Hey Tony, I appreciate your outrage and decision to jump in the ring. I am %100 with you. Thank you for giving some direction and taking a leadership role, using your position to make a difference.
You’re absolutely right, this is theft. It should be illegal on the face of it
This is very sickening. So glad you shared this extremely important message. Indie artists worldwide take heed and let’s act NOW!!!!
Thank you, Tony. I actually wrote to my three congressional representatives, and I asked Spotify very nicely to reconsider this new policy. Now that this has been taken care of, I'm looking forward to making lots of money via streaming.
Thank you Tony for standing up for artists. I've seen distributor CEOs from the likes of Stem who says that this new model will actually "benefit" the indie artists. This is complete nonsense. This will cripple creativity and motivation from upstart artists who sees these small checks as motivation to move forward with their careers.
Imagine if this were applied to other industries?
I am writing to express my appreciation as an independent artist for this video. You are echoing our thoughts that they want to steal our rights, as evidenced by Spotify's disappointing decision.
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
I'm an indie artist and released my first album 2 years ago. It was inspiring to actually get paid for creating music. Now Spotify wants to take that away!!! I don't make much money on my music, but it just isn't right to take what little I earn and give to some multi-millionaire artist. I'll be pulling my music off Spotify if they decide to STEAL my royalties.
I am VERY GRATEFUL that you created this video explanation, Tony. I was somewhat stunned when I read about this "steal from the poor to reward the rich" proposal by Spotify leadership. I am sending email to my state (MA) and national (USA) senators and representatives with a link to your video. I agree - let's create a big groundswell of attention ffor this very greedy and unethical idea.
Merchants of Garbage? That would piss me off! Splatiify just shat their britches. They ain't gettin' my subscription $$ no more. Moving to Apple Music 01/01/24 I see a lawsuit coming on. and everyone should know their congress critters, or other elected lawmakers,cuz this goes beyond the USA.
As if indie artists didn't have it hard enough with them using money to gatekeep talented people from shining.
I think the independent music industry, even the 'top" artists, such as Taylor Swift, Drake, etc., to put pressure on Spotify to reverse this 1000 streams bullshit. That is stealing.
They are making it harder on the indie artist like myself to even come out with a new Solo project next year
I'm not a lawyer but it seems to me that Spotify's action is a direct violation of copyright.
Agreed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
Boycott spotify as an artist and as a customer. $12.99 a month makes a huge dent if enough people drop their subscriptions.
I have three albums on Spotify (soon to be four) which will be 37 songs on the platform. My songs on Spotify generate small royalties that go to my distributor (along with royalties from other streaming platforms) and I'm paid once a threshold of $100 is reached - which happens several times a year. While not a lot of money, it ends up being a decent chunk for repairing or upgrading equipment. Spotify will now be stealing my royalties and giving them to bigger artists. How is this fair? It doesn't seem legal to me to just refuse to pay royalties on intellectual property that you are streaming (no matter how many plays). I'm also curious where the "1000" came from. Why not 5000? Maybe next year... This really pisses me off!
I presently have 9 hours of music on Spotify that in the past I have promoted. I was preparing to start a promotional campaign attempting to get more streams on the service. And guess what? That won’t be happening. I will send traffic to another platform before I let them steal my royalties.
One suggestion. Would you or someone create a document, posts, that we can use to send to our congressional representatives?
We need a "starter" letter that we can personally embellish with our own stories that we can send to Congress, organized for maximum impact instead of a slow trickle. Not much time to do this before 1/1/24 though. Never-the-less, we must take action. I'm in!
I was already pissed off at them and I took down all of my CDs from streaming now I'm totally convinced that everyone should leave, minors and majors alike, someone has to create something that dignifies artists, there's got to be a way! Fu.... Thieves!
Thanks Tony! Great discussion. Spotify's actions sounds like the general "run of the mill" Monopoly Scam. I was working in Los Angeles as a temporary Conductor for the BNSF in 2000. I talked to the Regional Superintendent, a smart and friendly guy. He was young and obviously on his way up, fast. What struck me was his comment about how the railroads needed to consolidate to be more efficient. Basically, he was saying our country needed one big Monopolized railroad. These big Companies' CEOs can rationalize their greed and ambition quite easily. The Greed in this country, especially at the top of major industries, is out of control.
I’m honestly livid right now…this is such BS. I have 1k+ on a lot of my songs, but that’s half of my catalog (about 50/100). Not all of them have been up for a year yet, but that’s besides the point.
The thing that bothers me the most is the money that is rightfully ours is going to people who don’t even need the money…like at all.
Tony - thanks for your video. When this news first broke I was outraged also and wanted to do something about it but I don’t have the name or brand recognition to make enough noise on it. You calling for the other larger businesses in the industry to unite will do that so thank you for organizing this. What I don’t understand is how the government can allow them to do this. Not licensing / paying royalties for the public use of music, even if it is only 1 stream, is illegal, right? Isn’t it a violation of the law for royalties from stream #1 not being paid?
We shall see...
Thank you Tony. My songs are all way under 1000 streams. I was hoping some would hit or get on a "hot" playlist. I recently pulled all content and deleted my spotify account. I am sick of the little guys getting ripped off, ignored and dismissed. There are other ways to sell my music.
I'm on board
I would be happy to remove my tracks from Spotify and cancel my subscription with them if they don’t stop their theft. If CD Baby took a stand against Spotify, I would support them.
Make sure to tell CD Baby that! (I did.)
This shouldn’t be allowed! How can the major record labels be allowed to tell the streaming service what to do? We should take our music off Spotify if we can’t have the royalties no one can.
Absolutely!
Thanks Tony!
Thanks for this video Tony. If Indie is such "garbage" then perhaps the appropriate response is for Indie distributors to create their own streaming platform, and we artists move our garbage to that new platform.
I'm ALL for it 🎉
You have done a fabulous job with video. I hope that a big artist or two will side with us smaller artists rather than let the stealing happen.
The only way to win this battle is to go 'direct to consumer' if the fans truly want your music they will get it from your website along with the rest of your content. Receiving %1 of what you're suppose to get is just silly. GO DIRECT
Thank you for sharing, this video was excellent and easy to understand. Like it’s not already hard enough (or expensive enough) to be an independent artist, now take away the few dollars we make and give them to the artists who are already generating an income. He’s right, this is theft.
Did anyone do the math on how much extra each “qualifying” artist would average with our money?
Thank you for this video ! 100% agree with you !
The only garbage we hear COMES FROM the majors. They deserve less money, not more.
A lot of articles are trying to spin this as a good thing, like "who's going to miss $3 in royalties anyway?" But what about someone who has 10 albums, each with 20 tracks, none of which get over 1000 plays on Spotify in a year, but let's say average 500 plays each. That's 200 tracks x 500 plays = 100,000 total plays per year, or $300 that Spotify will now steal from that artist each year. As if it wasn't bad enough that performers don't get paid for radio plays, now most of them won't get paid for Spotify plays either? It's a terrible move to make. Not that $300/year is going to pay the rent, but it's still freaking $300 that Spotify owes the artist (or label) but now refuses to pay, because they want to take all that money and use it to pay Taylor Swift EVEN MORE (or just goose their profit).
Independent artists are trying to cobble together lots of small revenue streams into a modest living, and taking away possibly the most substantial revenue source from streaming is pretty sh*tty of Spotify, especially when they're just going to use it to a) pad their pockets and b) give it to the artists who already make more money than they know what to do with.
Well explained!
Exactly! They can say that the smaller artist won't really miss that $300 or whatever. But that's not true. I would. Plus, I say that $300 won't mean a thing to Taylor Swift or Gaga or Gagme or whoever. Nothing but pure theft.
it's gonna take a gutsy pull the catalog protest move from a big time artist for them to listen. in the immortal words of princess Leia, This is our most desperate hour. Help us, Taylor Swift. You're our only hope.
An analogy would be an employer who says "you can have the job, but if you work less than 20 hours in a given week, we just won't pay you at all for that week. Even if you work every week of the year for a total of say 900 hours, you might earn $0 for the year because you never hit the 20 hour threshold in any given week."
Perfect analogy. Should be illegal? @@ModusVivendiMedia
Hi. This is bullshit. From Adelaide in South Australia. My band's name is First Kiss on Mars. It's hard enough as an indie band without being ripped off in more ways! Thanks for alerting us to this. You are a superstar!
As if I needed one more reason to despise what corporations have done to my earnings. I’m not the least bit surprised, tbh. I hold no hope of any intervention on our behalf by a joke of a government that can’t even keep itself open. Direct action is the far better plan. I would withdraw all of my music from this platform if I thought it would do any good. I’ll certainly be contacting the labels I work with, and be prepared to withdraw my independent releases in support of this, accompanied by a message to the platform. Thank you for making this video, Tony!!
You are so right! Spotify may presently have a legal right to intercept earnings, but they have no moral right.
Steve - what legal right to intercept royalties do you mean?
@@Golden-Boy-Mike I mean that the law (as it stands now) may permit Spotify to get away with it. I don't actually know if it does, though. I agree with Tony's position on this.
@@stevengovorchin to me it just boils down to it being illegal to not pay for the use of music.
@@Golden-Boy-MikeMay be employment laws? Since the artist and musicians aren't considered employees :(
@@Golden-Boy-Mike Probably just that whatever contract they have with aggregators, distributors, and major labels might amount to something along the lines of "if you send us tracks, we have the right to put them up, or take them down, at our discretion, and we'll pay you whatever we pay you, or not, also at our discretion."
Once again, thanks for sharing and explaining the implications for the industry :)
Tony, thank you for this video. I agree totally with your comments. My question to you is, Is Spotify trying to get all the ‘minor’ artists to pull their music off the platform? And assuming that they go through with this plan, should artist consider pulling music off the platform?
I agree totally with you that this is BS and is theft by taking.
Thank you Tony. Your point is "spot" on. It's a symptom of the dark underbelly of the digital world. In the guise of efficiency and optimization the smallest get marginalized or "disappeared". "Flyover country"?!?! There's a lot of great art down there, and in the apartments and alleyways of the cities. That's where all great art originates.
We've just had a quick meeting and decided to replace our show on Spotify with a very short 1-2 ms "episode" where we tell what the folks are missing out and where they can hear it.
You are so CORRECT!!! There is nothing that I can add to your commentary. I had already read about this in Music Business World. It seems as though along with BMI's new commercial business model idea, all of the corporate types are creating ways to further mis-use the artist, a create their own version of corporate GREED. I will definitely be taking your advice and writing to all congressional entities that I can ASAP.
Please do! It's the voices of YOU, the indie artists that may enact change. 💪
I'm all about physical merch/CDs etc., as I think most independent musicians are. The trouble is convincing the average listener of its importance toward sustaining us.
Yes keep buying CDs 💿 and records in aomeba records in Hollywood And support artist 😎😎😎 let this whole losers of new generation keep streaming their cheap ass music on their cheap ass cell phones 📞 🤣🥲🤣🤣😂 and never own any music
That is a great point. Physical product would definitely fix this and certainly revitalize the music industry unmanly levels, especially in mechanical royalties. Right now the mechanical royalty on a stream is a tiny fraction of a penny. With physical product the mechanical royalty is about 12 cents. That is a hug difference!
Honestly, Spotify and Apple and the likes of them are ALL BS! Musicians need to band together to make these companies pay more for a song being streamed the first time. After that, the listener essentially owns the stream, like they would a record or CD, and then a lesser royalty can be paid if they listen to it over and over.
Appreciate u Tony! and thanks for doing my first mastering recently.
I've been working on a solution to all of this for the past 3 years, but my company is looking for devs and other industry pros that want to get on board to put an end to all of this! It's time to put the power back in the hands of those who deserve it!!!
Seriously, anyone looking to get involved, this is a great opportunity for independent artists of ALL mediums around the globe to finally get the recognition and the compensation they deserve. We are already working with a few major producers and other industry professionals to build the foundation for a "legitimate" global independent art industry whose sucsess is not dictated by the status quo!
It's time to show these people who really holds the key to their success! WITHOUT ARTISTS, THERE IS NO SPOTIFY! LET'S SEE HOW WELL THEY DO WHEN THEY ONLY HAVE A HANDFUL OF MAJOR LABEL ARTISTS AND NO INDEPENDENTS!!!
Been thinking for a while now about pulling the plug altogether on spotify and just focus on digital sales through own website and merch... I guess this is the time to do just that.
It would be interesting to see which side of the line big time artists/"influencers" fall on this one. Will profit and greed keep them silent on the sidelines or will they use their individual and collective voices to call this out publicly too? Influencers will have the most immediate impact. DIY and DSP resistance is important but that road is a long haul. Taylor, fire up those Swifties. Bono, remember Cedarwood Road where your music adventure all began. Billie, Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce, Eminem, Olivia, Miley, Dolly, Post, Drake, Bad Bunny, Sting, Genesis? Will it be crickets or fireworks? Tony, I am of course, assuming Taylor will be watching your video : )…Thx again for the awareness!!!
Ah, self interest vs. public interest… I’m expecting crickets from the major artists.
Re: UMG’s antics, my band posted a live recording of a performance of an original song, and it was copyright claimed by UMG. We appealed it through UA-cam and received a strike and were told that we risked losing out entire channel. The song was in a completely different key, a different tempo, and had a totally different groove to the song they claimed it infringed on. That’s been one of our most popular videos, and we haven’t received any money for that video. Of our original song.
That sounds horrible...
Thank you for covering this! I figured you would after I sent you the email about it. Just another way to screw independents, as if streaming was paying enough to begin with! Streams are streams. If someone is listening to my song, rather it gets 100 listens, or 1 million, I should be paid for those listens, period.... I hope someone files a lawsuit on behalf of the independents. It may be time to go to lawmakers and start to push new legislation to stop this erosion of out revenues and rights.
100% agreed let's send them a message 🇯🇲✊🏾
... or, if 2/3 of the artists on Spotify pull their music and move it to a platform that WILL pay them, that sends a much bigger message than getting government's nose (and hands) further into our business.
If Indie Artits can remove their songs from spotify then they should do just that and go to another platform where they're treated better.
Had NO clue this was going on. Thanks!
I have a couple thoughts on this:
1. It would be great if major artists got together and "strike" against Spotify in order to help protect the little guys. This is a large part of what was behind the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which were as much to protect the talents who earn far less as it was to protect talent rights in general. Particularly in the face of the growing threat of AI to creatives.
2. Streaming is not a working financial or business model. I don't even think Spotify is out of the red and has never been, from what I understand. I realize I could be wrong about that... But frankly the way this is done, the way it HAS been done for years, is not something that will sustain itself. So companies like Spotify will always be trying to find new ways to sustain themselves through changes like this. It has nothing to do with the artists. It has to do with Spotify, the sheer lack of capital against volume (I mean somewhere on this thread was a comment that 1000 plays equals $5... that is NOT a working business model for ANYONE). Streaming in general is just not going to survive unless it's overhauled, and unfortunately that overhaul may mean indies like us get cut out entirely. It'll be like trying to get your show on Netflix.
Great! yet another way to discourage creative musicians from creating music recordings.
Where are all the songwriters attorneys. L.A., Nashville, New York. Why aren’t these guys flooding D.C.? It should be at least $0.07 per stream just like in a jukebox.
Well done Tony!!!
im not here this isnt happening. Shame on you Spotify if it is, this is SO wrong, plus illegal. tks for the video Tony
Agreed!
Let Spotify know how wrong this is: artists.spotify.com/contact
Then ask your local congressional representative to enact laws to prevent this reverse Robin Hood scheme:
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
Spotify don't even pay fairly from the get go... Napster,Tidal, and apple music are the highest paid... I don't see them making all of these adjustments... Independent Artist need to stop getting their music up on their platform uploaded I bet they will make adjustments in the favor of the independent artist...
We need to go back to direct to costomer download or cd sells
The winner takes it all, a proverb that saw its real power unleashed since we have internet based markets. There are more music streaming services but Spotify is by far the most important one. It abuses its market power to discriminate against small (music) suppliers. Tony, you are right and we should not accept this.