Pirates Don’t Screw The Artists, Labels Screw The Artists

As we wrote a little while ago in a related article:

But what happens when the major labels enter any good idea?
1. They screw it up royally
2. They screw the public
3. They screw the artists

You do have to admire their evil though, they took a situation where they are totally raping the very talent they are claiming to protect, and turned it into perfect spin, blaming the consumers as well as the Spotify service… basically, anyone but them.

Sadly the ‘mainstream’ media (where big content has their fingers in the pie again) will eat it up.. along with a side order of big bigger fibs.

It would almost seem like we were soothsayers of old, or witches/warlocks looking into a crystal ball the way this played out:

A few days ago we reported that Lady Gaga earned a measly $167 for more than a million plays on the music streaming service, Spotify. According to new information received from music industry insiders, it turns out that Spotify isn’t ripping off the artists, the labels are.

spotifyBy allowing its users to access millions of songs for free, the music streaming Spotify has revolutionized the music industry by handing them a potential competitor to illegal downloading.

Unfortunately, the labels themselves are not as enthusiastic as most users are, as they doubt the service’s ability to generate enough revenue.

Indeed, if we take a look at the numbers relating to Lady Gaga that we reported a few days ago, Spotify is barely generating more revenue than most artists make from illicit file-sharing. With an income of only $167 for more than a million plays, he/she is not going to be able to pay the rent.

However, it turns out that this might not be the fault of Spotify’s business model, but rather the involvement of some of the major labels in the project. As reported before, Sony BMG bought 5.8% of Spotify for 2,935 Euros, Universal Music got 4.8% for 2,446 Euros, Warner Music paid 1,957 Euros for 3.8% and EMI pocketed 1.9% for an investment of 980 Euros.

Lady Gaga is signed by Def Jam (Universal) which partly owns Spotify, which probably has a significant impact on the revenue she makes. After all, the major labels wouldn’t pay the artists from their own pockets would they?

TF has the skinny, check it out here

Related posts:

1. Legit Game Buyers Penalised – Pirates Uneffected. (UPDATED)
2. Spain To Get Sued By Indie Labels!
3. The Real Music Pirates…Rogues
4. Insects (Beetles) Squeezing The Parasites (Music Labels!)
5. The Real Pirates Are The Anti-Pirate Organizations!
6. Artists to Win,Labels to Lose! Yay!
7. Music Labels Losing Money. Artists Making More Than Ever!