Is Spotify Killing The Music Industry?

- The question on critics’ tongue since Spotify (developed in 2006) had broken through the doors of mainstream around late 2012. These days, not many people fail to recognise the brand logo or make jokes about the need of purchasing Spotify premium.  In fact, the 10-year-old Swedish company has now reached the net worth of $400 million - with the number growing vastly still.

 

Nevertheless, with popularity always comes controversy.

Frankly, the more popular argument against popular streaming sites such as the one in question is that artists don’t receive the amount of money they deserve. Perhaps this may be the case for some, but what needs to be considered is how much money they would receive by being signed to their labels and producers and their labels and producers only. Some people have very fair deals and will receive the amount they deserve from the streams others...not so much.

The truth is that artists who do not have their music up on Spotify make money through downloads, merch and other things which people usually have to buy individually. In 2016, most people like deals rather than buying a new album they may or may not like the following week. This can be seen with the popularity of the likes of Netflix, something that is paid for monthly. We all know the Netflix and chill joke.

 

Anyway, that’s off topic.

Point is that people enjoy having the choice from a wide variety and to get a lot from...not a lot. That’s not to say Spotify premium - which allows the user to download music to their device whenever they want to be used offline - is particularly cheap (I, personally, cannot afford it.) The application does have deals, however, and the adverts are not that bad.

Additionally, the ‘discover’ and ‘radio’ tabs along with the option to share your and your friends’ playlists allows many not-so well known artists to become more prominent in the industry. Besides the popular “Top 40” playlist, there is at least a hundred more that could match your, or anyone’s, taste.

Maybe an artist’s best way around this is to both sell and stream. Pirating is still a thing, after all, so they may or may not get the money; it’s out of their hands. What’s interesting though is the effect streaming sites have in reducing piracy - Will Page and Luis Aguiar researched the subject. They concluded besides every sale an artist makes, every additional 47 streams displaced one pirated download.

That’s not to say online streaming does not have its cons. Neil Young has said in a Facebook post that “streaming has ended for him” due to the sound quality. 

 

However, to my knowledge, Young’s music is now available on Spotify. So that point may be out of the question.

Perhaps Spotify isn’t killing the music industry?