Birch have done press interviews to market today’s live stream of her New Apple TV+ concert movie “Cornucopia,” but a comment she made about Spotify During an interview with the Swedish outlet Today’s News Getting headlines on Friday: “Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians.”
She made the comment when discussing her preference to create new music rather than touring. “The life part is, and will always be, a large part of what I do,” she said in a translation from Swedish published in Nme. “But I’m lucky because I no longer have to raise money on touring, which younger musicians are often forced to do.
“In that respect,” she continued, “Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians. The streaming culture has changed an entire society and a whole generation of artists.”
To be fair, her comment was really focused on the streaming economy, which, on the one hand, saved a music deal that for more than a dozen years had been ravaged by illegal download – which did not generate anything for artists and rights holders as a record company and music publisher. -But on the other hand, musicians and especially songwriters pay a fraction of what they earn on the sale of physical products such as vinyl and CDs: streaming services pay approximately between $ 0.003 and 0.005 USD per stream, which is paid directly to the rights holders (usually labels and publishers) Who then pays the artist or songwriter and other stakeholders.
Not surprisingly, these small payments mean that only the most top -streamed artists – usually superstars – can earn significant income from streaming, which is why musicians have come to rely on tours, sales of goods and trademark partnership for their livelihood.
But even that model has fallen in recent years, as the post -pandemic glow has disappeared from the live music industry and in a tougher economy, many tours, even by big stars, have met lower ticket sales than hoped – a truly existential crisis, as it leaves many musicians With basically no way to support themselves while music companies and special streaming services are the foremost beneficiaries – Forbes appreciates Spotify’s CEO and co -founder Daniel Ek’s net value to $ 7.4 billion.
It is obvious that the streaming economy has long been waiting for a transformation.
