For years, music-streaming giant Spotify has shown contempt for artists,
employed grotesque capitalist tactics, and pursued the private interestsof its billionaire CEO. Here's a look at the many reasons to avoid like
the plague the most-used music streaming platform in France. ====
Launched in 2009, Spotify has become a colossal force in the music
industry. The term industry takes on its full meaning here: 9,000
employees and more than EUR15 billion in annual revenue. The Swedish
company has played a major role in the rise of streaming, which in just
15 years has become the dominant way people listen to music: in France,
three-quarters of the population use it[1].
Birth of a monster
On this market, Spotify has historically taken the lion's share: 34% of
users in 2025[2]. In previous years this number was over 40%, the drop
due only to the arrival of Google (via YouTube Music) and Amazon in
recent years. At the head of the company is cofounder and current CEO
Daniel Ek, who became a multi-billionaire through the profits generated:
about $9.2 billion in personal fortune as of 2025.
This capital was not built by magic: Spotify is notoriously known as the
paid streaming platform that pays artists the worst. Currently, average
remuneration seems to be between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream - mere
fractions of a cent. For anyone who does not reach millions of monthly
plays, the income is negligible. This situation has been regularly
denounced by artists - at least those who can afford to speak out. And
that's the point of this system: because payouts are individually
negotiated artist by artist, it's a clear neoliberal attack on
collective management organizations (see box).
But that's not the only way Spotify undermines artists' income. One
tactic has drawn particular attention: the use of fake artists, whose
music is anonymously composed by ghostwriters. The goal? Fill playlists
with tracks that have no rights-holders. If you're listening to a "Lo-Fi
beats" playlist for hours, Spotify may have slipped in dozens of "ghost"
tracks it commissioned, keeping the share of royalties instead of paying
artists.
This rumor has circulated for years but was recently reignited after the
discovery of several fictitious artists on the platform whose tracks
were visibly created with generative AI. Another cost-cutting move:
these tools can literally generate entire albums in minutes[3]- every
boss's dream: production without workers.
When he's not busy maximizing Spotify's profits or funding military
drones, Daniel Ek also invests in private health care through Neko
Health. Charming.
Magnus Höij
No surprise: yet another far-right boss
To the disregard for artists we must add the editorial and financial
choices of its CEO. In 2020 Spotify negotiated an exclusivity deal with
Joe Rogan for his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. Though less known in
France, Rogan is a leading figure of the American alt-right. A
libertarian, Trump supporter in 2024, he has welcomed numerous
conspiracy theorists and far-right figures, including big names like
Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Far from marginal, the podcast reaches tens of millions of subscribers,
delivering around ten hours of discussion each week. Spotify was willing
to pay big for this audience: $200 million for three years in 2020. In
2024 a new, non-exclusive deal was signed with Joe Rogan for $250 million.
But that's not all: in June, the Financial Times revealed that Daniel
Ek, via his investment company Prima Materia, financed the German
military-tech firm Helsing to the tune of $600 million. Helsing
specializes in AI for surveillance and spying, as well as autonomous
military drones. A dystopian agenda if there ever was one.
Liz Perry, Mood Machine, Atria/One Signal Publishers, January 2025, 288
pages, English only.
Leaving one day, never coming back
In response to these realities, some artists have begun announcing their
departure from the platform: Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, and King Gizzard and the
Lizard Wizard among them. But these exits remain anecdotal and limited
to two categories: those in sufficiently alternative scenes to be
relatively independent of Spotify, and those famous enough to do without it.
For everyone else, the gamble is huge: Spotify isn't just a revenue
source. Because of its dominance, the platform has become the main
metric for measuring an artist's popularity. Before booking an act,
concert venues and festivals closely watch the "monthly listeners"
number on Spotify. One extra zero can mean the difference between
headliner and opener. Giving up this metric is a risky bet for many artists.
That leaves user boycotts: alternatives to Spotify have never been more
numerous, and while their catalogs were once uneven, today they're
largely comparable - even better - than the Swedish giant. It's wise to
avoid Amazon and Google. And don't forget: to truly support artists and
avoid Big Tech, buying music directly, physical or digital, is still the
best option.
N. Bartosek (UCL Alsace)
Box - Who negotiates artist pay?
SACEM brings together the vast majority of French music artists and
negotiates collective remuneration for the use of their repertoires.
This is what's called a Collective Management Organization (CMO).
Similar organizations exist abroad, like GEMA in Germany or BMI and
ASCAP in the United States. When music plays on TV or radio,
broadcasters don't pay the artist directly but the CMO, which negotiates
an annual license fee and redistributes it to artists based on audience
shares.
This system is far from perfect - SACEM's flaws could fill another
article - but it gives artists collective bargaining power. Spotify
broke this balance: its initial promise to pay artists directly was
quickly turned into an argument to reduce fees paid to CMOs. This lets
Spotify negotiate one-on-one with each artist - hugely to its advantage.
Global stars like Taylor Swift or Adele have the leverage to demand
better pay, but the overwhelming majority cannot. This new model fosters
mistrust of collective organizations and feeds the illusion of the
"self-made" artist.
References:
[1]Baromètre des usages de la musique en France, CNM, October 2023.
[2]Tendances audio-vidéo 2025, Arcom.
[3]See the work of journalist Liz Pelly: "The Ghosts in the Machine,"
Harpers, January 2025 (English); "Spotify considère la musique davantage
comme un outil que comme une forme d'art," Les Jours, February 2025
(French); the book Mood Machine.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Industrie-musicale-Fuck-Spotify
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten