Recent news revealed that Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek has been investing heavily in military tech companies, which adds another ethical layer to a platform already criticized for how little it pays musicians !
Spotify only pays artists about $3–5 per 1,000 streams, using a pro-rata model that directs most money toward major stars… By contrast, Qobuz (≈$18–20 per 1,000 streams) and Tidal (≈$12–13) pay far more fairly!
However Tidal is far from ethical. Most of its revenue is controlled by private investors and founders and small artists still earn very little…
More fair-minded platforms like Bandcamp, Resonate, Ampled, or SoundCloud’s fan-powered royalties prioritize musicians over investors.
With these more ethical alternatives available, why do we keep using Spotify?
I buy on Bandcamp Fridays, but am suspicious of that platform since they changed owners so often without any input from the community or musicians.
I’m keeping my eye on https://subvert.fm/ as a hopefully more democratic option.
“So often?” I only heard about Epic acquiring them, have there been developments?
Well, shit!
Epic Games bought Bandcamp in March 2022.
In 2023, Bandcamp’s workers unionized under “Bandcamp United.”
In late 2023 (October), Epic sold Bandcamp to Songtradr, a music licensing company.
As part of that sale, many of the former Bandcamp employees were not offered positions by Songtradr, particularly those involved in union organizing.
Songtradr stated it would continue Bandcamp’s marketplace model and its “artist-first revenue share,” but declined to confirm whether certain features (e.g. user experience, Bandcamp Daily editorial) would remain unchanged.
I had no idea. Union busting, now… What a great way to show you respect the people who generate your wealth.
Thanks for sharing, this is a better write-up than I would’ve done.
But yeah it really sucks because from the outside Bandcamp looks like a great “light touch” platform, but the truth is sadly much more cynical and anti-democratic.
I love your avi/handle combo
Thank you jerk face!!
I’ve heard that Mirlo.space is a good alternative to Bandcamp, and as an artist myself, it looks to be a good replacement.