- Culture
- 12 Dec 19
The Pocket Gods release Xmas single to protest against Spotify
The Lo-Fi indie band from England have released yet another 30-seconds long track to protest against a lack of decent royalties from Spotify streaming.
Released via Nub Music/Cargo Records on December 6, the short song from The Pocket Gods goes straight to the point. Called 'Spotify Give Us More Money This Christmas', it is accompanied by a video poking fun at the issue:
When artists sign up with Spotify, they are paid around 0.007p per stream for a track longer than 30 seconds - a sum that is widely considered to be very insufficient, especially for songwriters, who are getting just a fraction of it.
Taylor Swift had taken the lead back in 2015 in rallying against the music-sharing platform and other digital giants for a better share of revenues.
That same year, late '90s band The Pocket Gods - who were discovered by the late BBC DJ John Peel - followed in the pop star's steps by releasing a protest album made of a hundred songs that are around 30 seconds long.
Their point is that writing material any longer than that is not worth it given the "paltry" payout.
So far, the band have released nine album in the 100X30 series, including 100Xmas30 100breXit30 and 100XRated30.
This saw them gain an official Guinness World Record for most tracks on a digital album as well as features in Billboard, BBC World News, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, MTV News and ITV News.
Their latest song, which can be streamed here is an outside bet for this year’s coveted UK Christmas number 1!
