Taylor Swift's Abrupt Withdrawal From Spotify Wasn't Really A Surprise, And Here's Why
Fans may be understandably upset about the unexpected move, but Taylor has never been keen about having her music being streamed.
By Samantha Khor — 25 Mar 2015, 06:08 PM
Bono, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton And More Weigh In On Taylor Swift Vs. Spotify
Country Star Jason Aldean Has Already Removed His Latest Album - Old Boots, New Dirt - From Spotify Because He Is "Trying To Do What Is Right" To Champion Fair Compensation For Artists, Songwriters, Publishers, Producers And Engineers Involved In The Making Of A Record
"The debate the whole music industry is having on streaming is complicated," Aldean said in his first statement, given to The Associated Press, since Spotify removed the album on Monday. "And while I'm definitely paying attention to the business side of things, I am first and foremost an artist. I'm an artist whose career has been built by the songwriters, publishers, producers and engineers that line Music Row in Nashville. What they do has value, and I want everyone who is involved in making my music to be paid fairly. This is about trying to do what is right for the people who have given me a great life."
Fellow Nashville Artist Blake Shelton Has Also Expressed A Similar View To That Of Aldean, Saying That He Does Not Disagree With Taylor's Decision To Pull Her Albums Off Of The Streaming Service She Has Said Devalues Art
"I know Spotify’s in kind of an experimental phase, changing with the industry, and I can see why she did that. I don’t disagree with her and I know a lot of artists have followed suit. When you look at the numbers, it’s easy to say ‘That’s Taylor Swift — why is she so worried about money?’ But when you talk about other writers and songwriters on the album who aren’t Taylor Swift, it hits them pretty hard. I don’t disagree with her at all."
buzzfeed.com
Singer-Songwriter Aloe Blacc Also Backs Taylor's Controversial Move And Even Went Ahead To Pen An Op-Ed In Wired Titled "Streaming Services Need to Pay Songwriters Fairly", In Which He Noted That He Only Earned Less Than $4,000 From Spotify For Co-Writing Avicii's Hit Song, "Wake Me Up"
"Avicii's release 'Wake Me Up!' that I co-wrote and sing, for example, was the most streamed song in Spotify history and the 13th most played song on Pandora since its release in 2013, with more than 168 million streams in the US," he wrote in the Nov. 5 piece, referencing another popular music service, which is more similar to Internet radio and offers only samples of songs on-demand. "And yet, that yielded only $12,359 in Pandora domestic royalties—which were then split among three songwriters and our publishers."
"In return for co-writing a major hit song, I've earned less than $4,000 domestically from the largest digital music service," he said.
eonline.com
"It's definitely a hot topic because you have the concept that artists are overpaid already for what they do, and a lot of artists are," he told ET. "But there are songwriters who are not getting paid and these are the people who, for lack of a better term, don't have the resources that the artists do. I'm an artist, I get to go on stage and make money performing, but there are folks behind the scenes that don't get to. I just wish that they could get a better shake."
The now-35-year-old burst on to the scene in 2013 providing the songwriting and vocals on Avicii's hit single "Wake Me Up." Though he'd been working in the industry for many years prior, the breakthrough led to huge new successes for the artist, whose other credits include "The Man" and 2014 FIFA World Cup track "The World Is Ours."
In Contrast, Bono - Whose Band U2 Gave Away Their Latest Album For Free On iTunes Recently - Spoke Out In Defence Of Music-Streaming Services, Saying That It Is A Way For Artists To Get Their Music Heard
Bono at Web Summit: 'The music business has historically involved itself in quite considerable deceit'.
Image via Web Summit / The Guardian“I see streaming services as exciting ways to get to people. In the end, that’s what we want for U2 songs,” he said.
theguardian.com
"It's an experimental period," the U2 frontman said at the Web Summit conference in Dublin, according to The Guardian. "Let's experiment. Let's see what works."
rollingstone.comBono Also Pointed Out That The Real Enemy Is Not Spotify, But The Music Industry's Standards And Practices As Well As Record Labels' Transparency When It Comes To Artist Payouts
"When people pick on Spotify: Spotify are giving up 70 percent of all their revenues to rights owners," the singer said. "It's just that people don't know where the money is because the record labels haven't been transparent."
Bono expounded on this idea elsewhere in the talk. "The music business has historically involved itself in quite considerable deceit," he said. "But if we change that a bit, and people can actually see how many times [songs are] being played, where they're being played, get access to information on the people who are listening to them, get paid direct debit.... I think those payments will add up to something, as the world gets more transparent."
Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl Asserted His Opinion That He Doesn't Care How Much People Are Paying For Music, He Just Wants "People To Hear Our Music". He Further Added That The Obsession With The Technology And Delivery Of Music Has Detracted From The Importance Of Putting On A Live Show.
"Me personally? I don't f---ing care. That's just me, because I'm playing two nights at Wembley next summer," said Grohl. "I want people to hear our music, I don't care if you pay $1 or f---ing $20 for it, just listen to the f---ing song. But I can understand how other people would object to that."
"You want people to f---ing listen to your music? Give them your music. And then go play a show. They like hearing your music? They'll go see a show. To me it's that simple, and I think it used to work that way," the 45-year-old said.
Echoing Grohl's Sentiments, Maroon 5 Frontman Adam Levine's Also Said That He Is In Favour Of Fans Being Able To Access Music Wherever They Choose - As Long As They Are Listening And "Supporting The Artist In Some Way"
"Music is for everyone, and I don't really care how anybody obtains it. As long as they get it and enjoy it and love it and compensate whoever it is in some way, whether that's buying a T-shirt or supporting the artist in some way. Other than that, music should be able to be wherever it is," said Adam Levine on Taylor Swift's decision to pull her music from Spotify
Meanwhile, Spotify Claims That Taylor Swift Left Behind $6 Million When She Left... But Her Record Label Says Otherwise
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claimed that before she pulled her tracks, the current queen of pop was projected to earn $6 million a year. However, Swift's label boss, Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta, fired back in Time Magazine, where he said Spotify had paid a mere $500,000 for Taylor Swift's domestic streams last year.
theverge.com
14 NOV 2014: Disputing Claims Of Spotify's Unfair Payouts To Artists, CEO Daniel Ek Wrote In A Blog Post That A Top Artist Like Taylor Swift Could Be Projected To Earn More Than $6 Million Next Year
Ek also said that Spotify had paid a total of $2 billion to music labels and their associated artists since Spotify launched in 2008, a sum he argued wouldn’t exist had fans downloaded the music through pirated websites.
time.com
Ek said stories from artists and songwriters about receiving little or no money from streaming frustrate him as well. If Spotify's $2 billion in payments aren't "flowing to the creative community in a timely and transparent way, that's a big problem," he said, adding that the company will work with the industry to solve it.
cnet.comBut Scott Borchetta - CEO Of Taylor's Record Label Big Machine - Rejected Spotify's Claims, Saying That The Pop Star Has Been Paid Less Than $500,000 In The Past 12 Months For Domestic Streaming Of Her Songs
In a statement to TIME, he revealed that Swift's music earned about $496,000 from Spotify over the past 12 months. Not a paltry sum, to be sure, but a far cry from Spotify's claim that Swift earned $2 million in the same period. Swift earns more from Vevo streams than from Spotify, Borchetta told TIME.
people.com
However, Borchetta's Figures Do Not Take Into Account Global Streaming. Spotify Hit Back, Saying That The Total Payout For Taylor Over The Past 12 Months Globally Was $2 Million.
“The more we grow, the more we pay artists, and we’re growing like crazy,” said Jonathan Prince, Spotify’s global head of communications and public policy. “Our users, both free and paid, have grown by more than 50 percent in the last year, which means that the run rate for artists of every level of popularity keeps climbing. And Taylor just put out a great record, so her popularity has grown too. We paid Taylor’s label and publisher roughly half a million dollars in the month before she took her catalog down—without even having 1989 on our service—and that was only going to go up.”
time.com
Meanwhile, Taylor's Label Mates And Country Singers Jason Aldean, Justin Moore, And Brantley Gilbert Have Also Followed In Her Footsteps In Pulling Their Albums Off Of The Streaming Service
Brantley Gilbert and Justin Moore perform at the 2014 CMA Music Festival.
Image via Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesJason Aldean had already made the move, and now Justin Moore and Brantley Gilbert have done the same. Aldean's "Old Boots, New Dirt" nabbed 3 million streams the first week it was out before getting nixed on the service, but the rest of his catalog remains available. The same applies to both Moore and Gilbert: old stuff is there, but the latest has been removed save for the lead singles.
engadget.com
5 NOV 2014: Taylor Swift Has Abruptly Pulled Her Back Catalogue Off Of Spotify - The World's Largest Subscription Music Streaming Service - On 3 November
A music-industry source says Swift's label, Big Machine made the decision last week without negotiating with Spotify, which offers a free desktop service and allows users to pay $5 or $10 a month to eliminate ads.
rollingstone.comThe singer was one of Spotify’s most popular artists, with 25% of listeners having streamed her songs. Her songs were on 19 million playlists and the lead single from 1989, 'Shake It Off', went straight to number one on Spotify.
theguardian.com
The Move Isn't Exactly A Surprise As Taylor Has Been Quite Vocal In Her Criticism Of Streaming Services For Causing The Decline Of Paid Album Sales
The Shake It Off singer hasn’t been too keen on sharing her music with Spotify. Swift’s most recent album, 1989, wasn’t on the service, and she initially held off on allowing Spotify to stream her 2012 album, Red.
time.com
"In my opinion, the value of an album is, and will continue to be, based on the amount of heart and soul an artist has bled into a body of work, and the financial value that artists (and their labels) place on their music when it goes out into the marketplace. Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently," the pop star wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
wsj.comTaylor Has Also Been Pretty Outspoken In Urging Artists To Not "Undervalue" Their Music By Offering It To Low-Royalty Streaming Services Or For Free
According to Taylor, "Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art."
time.com
While The Move May Be Frustrating And Sparked Outrage Among Her Fanbase, Limiting Effortless Access To Taylor's Music May Provide An Incentive For Fans To Drive Up Album Sales
Her Latest Release, 1989, Has Already Sold Close To 1.3 Million Copies, Making It The First Album To Go Platinum In 2014.
Keeping her newest LP off of Spotify and other streaming services seems to have driven fans to buy the album outright. But making music available solely on a declining format is a risky strategy that requires a Swift-ian level of clout and influence.
time.com
Relying Heavily On A Declining Format Is A Risky Move For Sure, But One Can Hardly Argue Against The Country-Pop Singer's Caliber To Pull It Off
Taylor Swift can bail on Spotify for the same reason the Beatles didn’t put their albums on iTunes until 2010: They can both float above industry headwinds, release their music in the format of their choosing and watch fans follow obediently. Few others have the same luxury.
time.com
David Holmes, an editor for tech publication Pando Daily, did not think Swift removing her back catalogue from Spotify would “have any noticeable impact on her sales”. He added, “Taylor Swift is an anomaly. I think you could count on one hand the number of artists that could pull this off and remain popular – as digital download sales are in freefall."
theguardian.com
Accusations Of Greed Aside, The Move Has Been Criticised As Being Shortsighted, As Some Have Pointed Out That Relying On Paid Album Sales May Not Work Out In The Long Run Due To The Ever-Changing Trends In The Music Industry
The opportunity to cash in on a physical product might not be possible the next time Swift drops an album, as tastes and trends move on, so it makes sense to sell as many as possible while there’s still a market for it.
forbes.comDavid Holmes added, "I do think eventually every artist is going to have to be on a streaming service … Over time, if artists want their music to be heard in any meaningful way, they need to be on a streaming service.”
theguardian.com
The Pop Star Isn't Exactly The First Person To Have Withdrawn Her Music From Spotify. Radiohead's Thom Yorke Have Criticised The Streaming Service's Unfair Payment Practices, While Music From The Beatles, The Black Keys And AC/DC Are Also Not Available To Stream On Spotify
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke called for a boycott of the service over unfair payment practices, removing all his solo projects from the site and describing it as “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”.
theguardian.com
Other artists have taken similar actions, including musicians like American rock duo The Black Keys, who have spoken out against the small royalties paid by streaming services.
time.com
According To Spotify Artists, Artists Earn Less Than Once Cent Per Play On Average (Between $0.006 and $0.0084). It Does Not Sound Like Much, But A Big-Scale Artist Like Taylor Could Still Rack In Millions Per Day
An artist’s popularity on Spotify is also one of the major metrics in how payout is calculated, and it’s no secret that Swift is a huge traffic driver. Swift’s payout would also increase alongside Spotify’s revenue, and advertisers probably would’ve paid pretty large premiums to tap into Swift’s streaming audience.
time.com
In Light Of Taylor's Sudden Move, Spotify Has Expressed Hope That The Pop Star Will Consider Returning And Even Launched A Social Media Campaign To Rally Taylor's Fans To The Cause
"We hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone. We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That’s why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community."
rollingstone.comTaylor Swift Fans, What Do You Think About Not Being Able To Listen To Taylor Swift On Spotify Anymore?
