In 2014, funk band Vulfpeck released Sleepify, an album that would garner national attention for its creativity and originality. Take a quick listen to Sleepify’s first track, “Z”.
Vulfpeck made this album of digital silence to call attention to Spotify’s low royalty payments- and it worked. The stunt gained national attention, with publications including Forbes, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian reporting on the band’s criticism of the major streaming service’s business model.
On this webpage, we will explore the relationship between Spotify and music artists who distribute their music on the streaming service. Since Spotify has become a dominating force in the music industry, a few large artists, notably Taylor Swift and Eminem, have publicly called it out for their low royalty payouts and unethical business practices, such as withholding payments to artists. Even some smaller artists such as Vulfpeck have followed suit, trying their best to bring attention to Spotify’s low royalty payouts. These cases have led the media to paint Spotify as a corporation that takes advantage of artists by using their content without fair compensation.
Despite many artists’ discontent with Spotify, some do acknowledge the many benefits that the streaming service provides. Recently, Spotify released their own 2021 royalty data (Loud and Clear, 2022), arguing that streaming has made the music industry more profitable for artists at all levels. Along with the unprecedented access to music that Spotify provides for the public, the company also has a history of investing in educational tools for artists through their Spotify for Artists webpage and promoting creativity through Soundtrap, an online music creation software. After interviewing two copyright lawyers, examining criticism against Spotify, and considering Spotify’s own statistics on artist pay, we will show that the platform itself provides some positive contributions to the industry, however, it must address the questionable business practices that are negatively affecting artists.