Thom Yorke pulls his music from Spotify

Thom Yorke has pulled Atoms For Peace’s Amok and his solo The Eraser album from Spotify because he feels they’re not paying emerging acts enough in royalties.
“Make no mistake; new artists you discover on Spotify will not get paid,” Yorke tweeted last night. “Meanwhile shareholders will shortly be rolling in it. Simples.
“‘Your small meaningless rebellion is only hurting your fans… a drop in the bucket really.’ No, we’re standing up for our fellow musicians.
“For me In Rainbows was a statement of trust,” he continued. “People still value new music. That's all we'd like from Spotify. Don't make us the target.”
Expanding on Spotify being “bad for new music”, Yorke’s Atoms For Peace bandmate and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich says: ‘The reason is that new artists get paid fuck all with this model. It’s an equation that just doesn’t work.
“The music industry is being taken over by the back door and if we don't try and make it fair for new music producers and artists then the art will suffer. Make no mistake. These are all the same old industry bods trying to get a stranglehold on the delivery system.
“The numbers don't even add up for Spotify yet,” Godrich continues. “But it's not about that; it's about establishing the model which will be extremely valuable. Meanwhile small labels and new artists can't even keep their lights on. It's just not right. Plus people are scared to speak up or not take part as they are told they will lose invaluable exposure if they don't play ball. Meanwhile millions of streams gets them a few thousand dollars. Not like radio at all…”
Talking to Hot Press at Christmas, Django Django’s Vincent Neff proffered: “I don’t have Spotify. It’s not really a way that I want to consume music. 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.”
If you’re an Irish artist and have thoughts on the Spotify debate, send them to [email][email protected][/email]