We’re just talked a whole lot about music streaming- what more is there to be said? Well, what if I told you that favorite music streaming service may have an evil side? If you’ve been tuned in for a while, you might jump to think Youtube or Apple, but what if we told you it was… just about all of them?

Sources:

Spotify’s User Count:

• Music Ally, 19 February 2020, ‘How many users do Spotify, Apple Music and other big music streaming services have?’

Spotify’s Payout Method & Estimated Rates:

• ‘Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP’, 17 August 2018, How Streaming Services Pay Songwriters (Infographic)
• Music Ally, 5 May 2020, ‘Spotify should pay musicians more? Let’s talk more about how’
• Ditto Music, 28 December 2020, “How Much Do Music Streaming Services Pay Musicians in 2021“
• The Trichordist, 5 March 2020, “2019-2020 Streaming Price Bible : YouTube is STILL The #1 Problem To Solve“

Spotify’s “Pay for Plays” equivalent strategy:

• Spotify Newsroom, 2 November 2020, “Amplifying Artist Input in Your Personalized Recommendations”
• Hack – triple j, 17 November 2020, “Should Spotify pay more per stream? How artists have to play the ‘digital marketing game’ in 2020”

“Fake Artists”:

• NPR, 12 July 2017, “https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/07/12/536670493/spotify-is-accused-of-creating-fake-artists-but-what-is-a-fake-artist”
• The Ringer, 16 January 2019, “Is Spotify’s Model Wiping Out Music’s Middle Class?”
• Junkee, 14 September 2020, “Junk Explained: How “Fake” Bands Are Taking Over Spotify And Fooling The Algorithm”
• Rolling Stone, 15 May 2019, “‘Fake Artists’ Have Billions of Streams on Spotify. Is Sony Now Playing the Service at Its Own Game?”

“Justice At Spotify” Campaign:

• UMAW (Union of Musicians and Allied Workers)’s Page on Justice At Spotify

Mentioned Apple Music Class Action & Dismissal:

• Apple Insider, 25 May 2019, “Apple facing class action lawsuit over alleged iTunes & Apple Music data sale”
• Apple Insider, 26 November 2019, “Judge dismisses class action involving iTunes and Apple Music data privacy“

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Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH