Post-metal outfit Sumac have removed their latest album, May You Be Held, from Spotify in response to comments made by the platform’s CEO, Daniel Ek, regarding artist payments. According to Thrill Jockey Records Director of Publicity Mike Boyd, the album’s inclusion on the platform had been glitch, however the project’s single “The Iron Chair” will remain on the platform, as it was included prior to Ek’s comments.
“Apologies for the confusion y’all. The Iron Chair’ was up as a single before the decision was made to not have the album on Spotify,” Boyd wrote in a statement obtained by The PRP. “The album being on Spotify was a glitch, which I had to fix. After the pretty repugnant statements Spotify‘s CEO made earlier this year, the band asked that the album not be available on that platform.”
Ek’s comments caused a commotion throughout the music world, after the executive claimed that artists not being paid enough for streams is a “narrative fallacy,” while urging musicians to have “continuous engagement with fans.” Artists such as Neko Case, Massive Attack and Zola Jesus lambasted the figure on social media in response to these comments, with many artists threatening to pull their catalogue from the service.
May You Be Held is currently available on Apple Music and Bandcamp, where fans can either purchase digital copy of the record, or a physical release. This project contains five new songs from the album, but each track varies in length from eight minutes all the way to the 22-minute title track.
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