this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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I remember when Joe Rogan was getting giant paycheck from Spotify promoting antivax stuff, and people talked about moving to Apple Music, but it feels like many just stuck with Spotify.
I came across a post on instagram that says that Al Yankovic's 80 million stream on playlist only netted him enough money to buy a sandwich.
Also, Spotify underpaying artists, making fake playlists with cover artists to undermine artists, are not new. It feels like the mainstream crowd just doesn't care, which pushes me further into depression.
I personally don't care because if a company isn't paying you for your time/work, that's their problem to sort out, not mine. I will go where the music is. If artists start leaving Spotify and it becomes a wasteland of nothing but trash, then I'll find new places to get it from. Why should I worry about their income? I'm paying for a service, I get the service and use it. I have my own income issues to handle, I don't need theirs too.
This is a valid opinion to have as a consumer in the here and now.
However, if you think about the bigger system and how it will change in a few years time, you'll notice that the matter is not quite this simple. It's easy to imagine that no single musician is brave enough to take the first step onto a new platform devoid of users, just like you are not willing to jump to a new platform devoid of musicians. And if no artist takes the first step and no user takes the first step, then the status quo will prevail. Now, that may not necessarily be a bad thing. But if artists are not paid enough to continue making music for Spotify, then they'll stop making music for Spotify. That's fine if you like mainstream music of whoever games the system successfully. But it's easy to see how that would be a loss to some people.