“Spotify already pays nearly 70% of every dollar it generates from music to the record labels and publishers that own the rights for music, and represent and pay artists and songwriters," it continues.
The problem isn't the streaming platforms (unless you want to pay more for your streaming service), but the record labels. Spotify never made profit.
Music used to be more valuable because it was more scarce and more difficult to deliver. Now anybody can make a song and put it on the internet. The value has gone down and artists/labels need to recognize that or people aren't gonna pay them at all.
“Spotify already pays nearly 70% of every dollar it generates from music to the record labels and publishers that own the rights for music, and represent and pay artists and songwriters," it continues.>
I dunno, ifnthat is true it seems more than fair compensation.
Fair compensation for who? Record labels who already rake in tons of money, or small artists that now need 1000 streams a year at minimum to get paid at all on a specific track?
The problem isn't as simple as "Spotify Bad", you're right.
It's that the default contracts for artists are outdated, written for the world of cd and record sales. In the new world of streaming, artists need to bargain for greater rights to streaming proceeds in their contacts - and they're working on it, but god knows the publishers don't want to give anything up.
Spotify as a company barely makes money; I've heard they're actually in the red. The villains are the labels, and Spotify and other streaming services are the weapon they are using to rip off their artists.