- Music
- 21 Nov 12
The Irish launch of the Swedish streaming service is a boon for consumers, but artists remain to be convinced...
While causing great excitement among music fans, artists here seem nonplussed about the possible impact of the launch of Spotify in Ireland.
The business model of the music streaming service, founded in Sweden, which has over 15 million users internationally, involves two tiers. The first is a free music streaming service, supported by ads; the second is a premium service, which is ad-free and also unlocks additional features. While the service has been controversial in that artists are seen to get very little in royalties, it has been hailed as a potential boon for consumers, with access to a vast music library being delivered for relatively accessible rates, which vary across different territories.
Talking to Hot Press as part of our Christmas Round Table, Django Django’s Derry-born lead singer and guitarist Vincent Neff remains among the unconvinced.
“I don’t have Spotify," he says. "It’s not really a way that I want to consume music. In some ways you’re gaining exposure being on there, but they’re not paying what seems like a fair rate for what you’re giving them. At some stage people putting music out might all cotton on and say, ‘What are we doing here?’ It seems like Spotify are making a tonne and not handing it down."
In fact the company has yet to deliver profits. In 2011 Spotify made losses of $59 million on revenues of $244 million, with industry forecasts indicating that revenues for 2012 will reach $500 million.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Neff adds, “I’m all for new technology and download a lot of music from iTunes, but if somebody massive like Lady Gaga’s getting only a few grand a year from Spotify, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us!”
Neff is referring to the claim that in 2010 Lady Gaga earned a mere $167 from one million plays of ‘Poker Face’ and similarly modest amounts from the other tracks on Born This Way. On the indie front, Galaxie 500’s three songwriters revealed this month that the 5,960 times their ‘Tugboat’ single was played on Spotify earned them 35¢ each.
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Vincent Neff’s concerns about Spotify are shared by his fellow Round Table participant Laura Sheeran.
“I heard that in order to make the minimum wage from streams you have to be streaming as much as Prince,” she proffers. “There are seven of us here and none of us seems to know how it works in terms of royalties.”
Le Galaxie’s Michael Pope admits that, from an artist’s perspective, he has no idea what Spotify’s terms and conditions are.
“Are we all on it?” he asks. “Friends of mine who managed to tap into Spotify before it officially launched here say it’s great for finding tunes and sticking on at parties, but – from an artist's point of view – it’s almost infinitesimal what you get paid per play.”
*For a fuller dissection of the musical year that is 2012, make sure to purchase your copy of the bumper Christmas issue of Hot Press, out on Thursday November 29, online or order from your local newsagent.