Taylor Swift's Spotify trouble is more than a pun; the artist's spat with the streaming service continues.
Chief Executive Daniel Ek validates the singer's concern; Taylor Swift's Spotify trouble is a case study of a bigger issue, though. In a Spotify blog post, Ek writes:
"Taylor Swift is absolutely right: music is art, art has real value, and artists deserve to be paid for it. We started Spotify because we love music and piracy was killing it. So all the talk swirling around lately about how Spotify is making money on the backs of artists upsets me big time.
Our whole reason for existence is to help fans find music and help artists connect with fans through a platform that protects them from piracy and pays them for their amazing work. Quincy Jones posted on Facebook that 'Spotify is not the enemy; piracy is the enemy.'" (spotify.com)
Spotify is the current alternative to piracy, a nicotine patch intended to wean people from illegally downloading copyrighted content. Ek insists Spotify has paid artists around $2 billion in royalties to date, at an average of $0.006 to $0.0084 for every stream.
Swift's camp still pulled her new album "1989" off Spotify, though, claiming the streaming site doesn't compensate artists their worth. Ek said payouts to A-list artists like Taylor Swift exceeds $6 million per year, which means she's missing out on that much by pulling out of the site.
Taylor Swift's Spotify trouble echoes previous spats with sites like Napster, though Spotify's business model explicitly recognizes artists and labels, with royalties and payouts.
The deluxe edition of Taylor Swift's "1989" is exclusively available at Target for $13.99. (usatoday.com)
Taylor Swift's Spotify trouble may lose her money. Ek says "All the talk swirling around lately about how Spotify is making money on the backs of artists upsets me big time. Our whole reason for existence is to help fans find music and help artists connect with fans through a platform that protects them from piracy and pays them for their amazing work."
