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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Says Artists "Can't Record Music Every Three or Four Years and Think That's Going to Be Enough"

Everyone's pissed
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Says Artists 'Can't Record Music Every Three or Four Years and Think That's Going to Be Enough'
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek photo via Magnus Höij
By Josiah Hughes
Published Jul 31, 2020
If there's been one current theme since the advent of streaming, it's that artists are not happy with the measly payouts they've been receiving. Now, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has added fuel to the fire by suggesting they're not making enough money because they're not working hard enough.

In an interview with Music Ally, Ek said the following:

Even today on our marketplace, there's literally millions and millions of artists. What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who's talking about… In the entire existence [of Spotify] I don't think I've ever seen a single artist saying, "I'm happy with all the money I'm getting from streaming." In private they have done that many times, but in public they have no incentive to do it. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.

Not stopping there, he went on to add:

There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can't record music once every three to four years and think that's going to be enough. The artists today that are making it realize that it's about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.... I feel, really, that the ones that aren't doing well in streaming are predominantly people who want to release music the way it used to be released.

As you might expect, Ek's statements have rankled musicians around the globe. Read their comments below.