1y ago

Spotify doesn't make profit from music streaming, despite having over 400M monthly active users, because it pays two-thirds of all its revenue to the rights holders.

open.substack.com Why Spotify Struggles to Make Money from Music Streaming

Despite being the king of music streaming, Spotify is struggling financially, but why?

You're viewing a single thread.

228 comments

I call bullshit. Yeah I'm sure they spend 2/3 of their income on rights holders, mainly Joe Rogan, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
The average musician isn't making shit, and yet the spotify execs are sipping champagne.
- The rights holders are the record labels. As much as artists want to complain about Spotify they should direct their criticism to their record labels.
  
  Spotify is far from powerless in this arrangement too. Nobody is forcing them to be in this business.
  
  Pretty sure Spotify is more powerless than you think. The record labels nearly burned their industry to the ground in the 2000s over digital piracy.
  Netflix wouldn't be around today if it wasn't for their move into becoming their own movie studio thanks to just about every big Hollywood studio pulling out, arrogantly thinking that they can each run their own service for a bigger slice of the pie. Newsflash, it's going really bad. Especially for Disney, who deserve everything coming to them.
  I reckon if Spotify makes even a small move to undermine the big record labels, they would yank all the popular music. Spotify either wouldn't last long or best case they down size into a niche music platform.
  
  it's going really bad. Especially for Disney, who deserve everything coming to them. <
  I can't like a statement hard enough. Amen.
  
  Basically the moral of the story is that Spotify should have followed in their footsteps and become their own record company.
  
  Moral of the story is people should stop lowering their standards so those richer than them can be even richer.
  
  Hold on, what's going to happen to Disney? I got the impression they're really eating into Netflix' market share. They basically own a huge chunk of the content most people care about.
  
  What about independent artists?
  
  If they were getting as many listens as Taylor Swift, I'm sure they'd be making bank. But they're not. A listen ain't worth a lot and never has been.
- "not making profits"
  Just massive salaries and equity
- You know they don't pay the artist directly? Like with physical the ones taking the biggest share are the labels... Also the average musician isn't making shit cause compared to a very few bigger artists they represent an extremely low percentage of the overall streams on the platform.
- Average musician probably makes more than you think https://youtu.be/qjb-pJIfQXI?si=Zbi54GvD3NqomIrv
- Taylor Swift somehow being a hallmark of the times makes me wish the whole world would end in a giant ball of fire.
  
  She’s not the worst role model we’ve ever seen, so at least the world isn’t completely mad. I think her music is mediocre, and don’t understand the fanfare, but to each their own.
  
  I think as a person she's fine. But as a branding machine... meh.
  
  I'm glad bands I like aren't big so I can afford to go to their shows :)

228 comments