Spotify’s stock has been on fire over the past few months as they have acquired Stitcher and announced mega podcast deals. I am sure many other people have made similar analogies because that is basically what he is saying – just sew faster and make me more money and then maybe you’ll get your raise. The boss says to him – I can’t raise your salary but if you want to earn more money, all you need to do is work more hours. As soon as I read his interview the first thing that popped into my head was a sweatshop factory worker that walks into his boss’s office and asks for a raise. While Daniel Ek may have thought he was giving some valuable advice to musicians, what came out instead was a very telling affirmation of the divide that exists between creators and corporations. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.” He concluded, “I feel, really, that the ones that aren’t doing well in streaming are predominantly people who want to release music the way it used to be released.” The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. “There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.” What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who’s talking about… In the entire existence I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single artist saying, ‘I’m happy with all the money I’m getting from streaming.’” (Obviously he isn’t familiar with Car Seat Headrest!) Ek continued, “In private they have done that many times, but in public they have no incentive to do it.

“Even today on our marketplace, there’s literally millions and millions of artists. I have read many tweets and posts from musicians who are angered by his comments and it’s important that we understand why.ĭuring an interview with MusicAlly, Ek said that: As you may have heard, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, has been making headlines this past week due to his controversial statement on why he thinks some musicians are not earning a living from streaming music.

Spotify founder daniel ek