Independent artist Joshua Radin posted the note above on his Twitter on New Year’s Eve, 2014. It’s about integrity as a consumer of music and integrity as an artist. It completely affirms my decision last year to quit using Spotify.
When Spotify started its streaming music service in the US I became a premium member. For $9.99 a month I could stream unlimited songs and albums and listen to my favorites on my smartphone. As an avid music consumer it seemed like a great deal. There was no longer a need to buy music. And that’s the problem with Spotify. Artists are paid a fraction of a cent per streamed song and consumers don’t own anything.
After my Spotify years, I have a huge gap in my music collection. For my $9.99 I could have bought an album per month. The fact that I wasn’t buying any music hurt the independent artists whose music I value. I have written about several independent artists on this and previous blogs. This year, I will start buying songs and albums again with the money I am not giving to Spotify.
Joshua Radin’s new album “Onward and Sideways” drops on January 6th. I will regain integrity as a music consumer and buy it, supporting a great artist.
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