It is not bad enough bands barely get paid despite thousands of streams per month. Now the CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, says that bands make enough and need to release music more frequently, rather than expect a real living wage from streaming. This is unsurprising that Ek doesn’t value artists or artistry, since he used to be connected o both Utorrent and Bit Torrent and got the idea for Spotify when Napster went out of business. He was a huge fan. Spotify’s average stream pays about $0.006. To earn just above the U.S. poverty line, which is $12,000, an artist would need three million streams (not factoring in payouts to label or management). Other factors for the cut the bands get includes individual record deals and agreements some labels have with Spotify. In a podcast interview with Music Ally, Ek said he would push back on the conversation and instead say the artist needs to reassess their marketing and creative output. Continue reading →