Vince Staples was performing at SXSW when he decided to take some time to criticize the streaming website, Spotify, for earning royalties on his music. “Shoutout to Spotify,” Staples said. “Thank you for giving me this check to make up for what you’ve done to me and all my musical friends.” Joanna Newsom spoke out against Spotify last year stating that the money system is quite cynical to the way in which Spotify works. Jay Z removed his Blueprint series from Spotfiy, due to the same issue of cash flow being unequal to the way in which a musician would earn their money from the amount of times their fans would stream their music.
To feel empathy for the fact that being a musician is the lowest level of salary is nothing compared to what these three accounts of musicians who use Spotify to increase their profit have had to endure. Being a musician is a make or break process, you either earn your keep or learn the art if reaping what you sow. Staples says that he earns only a small portion of profits compared to what he earns if he was to do other streaming devices other than Spotify. The Austin 360 blog states that Staples did the SXSW event on his own terms, his own way to earn money because his turnstile rants on Spotify show one thing about the rapper from California: he is difficult to work with.
Leave a Comment