I am glad to be able to tell you that we crossed the 20.000 monthly listeners on Spotify! That’s a massive number and big milestone to me.
Many people use the monthly listener data of Spotify as a way to measure one’s success as an artist. But that’s not really the case, because in the end it is a number on the app of a company.
The problem is that Spotify’s first objective (as a company) is to earn money. Their blatant disrespect to musicians other than those that are a part of the major music labels that own the largest shares of this company has caused me to rethink a couple of things…
Allow me to explain.
The revenue threshold of 1000 streams
“Spotify exists to make money for their shareholders. Their shareholders are major labels. Look at everything Spotify does through the lens that three of that their primary shareholders are the three major music labels.
They operate to enrich the major labels, that’s why they decided to stop paying the peasants who don’t meet their arbitrary stream threshold.”
For those who are unaware; Spotify recently decided that only songs with more than 1000 streams a year are eligible for royalty revenue. This basically means that if you’re not getting at least a thousand streams in the first month, they’ll take all the revenue of that month.
900 streams in the first month and 100 streams in the second? You get paid those 100, but not the 900.
They calculate this on a monthly basis, so all your songs have to perform well and continue to perform well in order to earn something. If not;
Spotify will pocket that money for themselves.
This affects two-thirds (!) of all songs on Spotify negatively.
Artificial Activity; Botted Streams
It doesn’t end there, however. There are malicious companies who pretend to connect real listeners to an artist’s music. They basically sell streams to musicians. The problem is that it’s a scam and their product is AI bots streaming your songs. These are ‘fake streams‘ as Spotify calls them.
To make sure the malicious companies cannot be traced back via their customers, they drop AI bot stream ‘attacks‘ upon many small artists, so you can never be sure which artist bought the streams.
If Spotify discovers these fake streams on your account, you get flagged. If you get flagged three times, you have to pay a €10,- fine. It gets worse though, the distributor might decide to take all your music down as well.
Artists have no control over bots and fake streams, but we are being held accountable as if we’ve been buying these streams en masse and on purpose. The fact that we can get fined and our music removed suddenly makes the streaming business an incredibly risky endeavour to rely on for your income.
“Spotify resist the pro rata payment concept because it does not benefit major labels. Pro rata means that each party or person receives their fair share in proportion to the whole.
Spotify is using the idea of “fake streams” to invalidate the work and effort of independent musicians. If they were concerned about fake streams, pro rata payments would eliminate them overnight.
Spotify does not actually care about fake streams, it’s a cover to rob independent artists and funnel money to major labels, who are the partial owners of the service.”
Spotify: “Money? Yes. But not for you!”
Why would they do this? You ask? Because streams are like a currency.
If those three major music labels get a lot of streams, and other people’s streams disappear, the label’s streams increase in worth. Many small artists have been duped to fill the pockets of the rich.
Artistry in this music business is a losing game against a couple of billionaires who control the market. Like they do everywhere else. It is incredibly ironic that last month I’ve released a protest song on Spotify, the platform that has added some policies that I would very much like to protest against right now!
It is the classic billionaire’s move. The capitalist company at its finest; those that provide the company’s worth are not getting paid what they are worth. You see it with Amazon, you now see it with Spotify.
Without artists, no music to listen to on their platform.
Helping Independent Artists
What can you do as an independent artist or as a listener to help independent artists? Support them in a different way.
Places like Bandcamp and Patreon are great ways to support your favorite musicians. Often for as little as a dollar a month you could be part of their core fanbase.
The smallest measure of support goes a long way to keep your favorite artist on track to keep them releasing the music you love to hear. For me personally, it’s always as if I’m receiving a present when I see someone bought my new release on Bandcamp!
You could also attend their live shows, if they’ve got them. A true musician’s mission is already complete when they’re able to touch the soul of another human being with their music. When energies and emotions flow to and from each other.
One good conversation with a fan after a gig is worth a thousand monthly listeners. Plus, as a fan you get to buy their merch personally and experience the artist’s gratitude!
Bart the Bard 