Melbourne’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (King Gizzard) and Fremantle singer Nick Allbrook are the latest to announce they are removing their music from Spotify.
Recent reports that Spotify co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, invested $1.07 billion into German defence AI technology company Helsing, have led to an exodus of artists from the platform.
Melbourne-based alternative rock band King Gizzard announced a new collection of demos via Instagram, “…out everywhere except Spotify (f*** Spotify)”.
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Another Instagram story by the band announced the withdrawal of their catalogue.
“Hello friends… A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in Al military drone technology… We just removed our music from the platform… Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better? Join us on another platform”
Lead singer of Fremantle rock band, Pond, Nick Allbrook, similarly announced the removal of his solo work.
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It is not the first time that Spotify’s ethics have turned artists away from their platform.
In 2022, Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young temporarily removed his entire catalogue after branding the platform “the home of life threatening Covid misinformation” due to its partnership with podcast host Joe Rogan.
Poor support for artists
The repercussions of Ek’s actions have come not only as a result of a clash in political views of the artists, but also due to the fact that in comparison to other platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal, Spotify pays close to the lowest per stream to artists.
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Stephen Loreck is the frontman for budding Perth band Late 90s.
He says he is frustrated with Spotify’s pay rate.
“It sucks. My band has surpassed over two million streams on Spotify which kind of seems like a lot, but we’ve received very little revenue.”
ECU music lecturer, Dr Nick Abbey, echoes this sentiment, describing Spotify’s pay rate as “plainly abysmal”.
Dr Abbey says there is a negligible opportunity for a local, niche, or independent artist to recoup recording and production costs from streaming revenue, and little opportunity to make a living from it.
“In the time of physical media, [revenue] was at least more or less guaranteed, and [making a living] was a possibility for savvy operators.
Meanwhile, Ek and Spotify remain in a position of power, being the most popular of all services in terms of subscribers.
This reality leaves artists with a dilemma.
Do they focus on the reach of the platforms and give their music away for pennies?
And are questionable ethics and lack of support for artists big enough arguments to give up on that reach?
And are there any realistic alternatives?
Perth-DJ Kristian Jackson, who goes by the moniker ‘Mind Electric’, says many artists are hoping new platforms will emerge to give artists a better deal.
“But if the major labels are locked in with Spotify, it will be hard for music to be moved over,” he says.
Other recent controversies have included how Spotify allows AI-produced music on the platform, resulting in an already flooded market becoming even more saturated, and making it harder for artists to cut through the noise.
Stephen Loreck says other streaming services are more favourable for artists.
“Tidal supports artists way better and has far superior audio quality […] Apple Music and Amazon music are pretty good too in comparison to Spotify.”
Kristian Jackson goes further and encourages music fans to support artists in tangible ways.
“Buy their merchandise, go to their gigs and support them on socials?and any crowdfunding campaigns.
Good old recommendations and word of mouth is still a great thing… not solely relying on algorithms.”
