Recently, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek made a somewhat controversial statement regarding artists' complaints about the platform's compensation. Ek said that the release frequency of most artists "is not sufficient," indicating that this would be the reason for their low pay.
“In all of Spotify’s existence, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single artist [say publicly] ‘I’m happy with all the money I’m making from streaming.’ Privately, they’ve done it many times, but publicly they have no incentive to do so,” the CEO said in an interview with Music Ally .
He also commented on what he believes to be the cause of the problem: “You can’t record music once every three or four years and think that will be enough. Today’s artists are realizing that it’s about creating ongoing engagement with their fans. It’s about releasing their work, creating an album narrative, and maintaining a continuous dialogue with their fans.”
As you can imagine, the artists didn't like this statement and many of them took to social media to speak out. Dee Snider and Mike Portnoy were some of the names who commented, see below.
Dee Snider: “HOW ABOUT YOU WRITE AND RECORD YOUR OWN MUSIC, YOU TALENTLESS PIECE OF SHIT? Oh yeah, you can't because then you'd have to try to live on the miserable pay you get! And before I forget, go fuck yourself, you idiot!!”
He then tweeted: "While you (the listener) benefit from & enjoy Spotify, you're partly killing a huge source of income for artists/creators. The number of artists 'rich enough' to absorb this loss is about 0.0001%. Daniel Ek's solution is for us to write & record more stuff?! Fuck him!"
Mike Portnoy: “What a greedy little bitch… it’s bad enough that he’s worth BILLIONS based on stealing and giving away other musicians’ music… but now he suggests we need to make MORE music so HE can make more money!!! Fuck Spotify and fuck Daniel Ek! I have 8 full albums released in 2020 & I’ll get PEANUTS from them (if I get anything at all…) So his theory that artists need to make MORE music to be successful is bullshit! Fuck Daniel Ek & fuck Spotify! Support THE ARTISTS DIRECTLY if you want them to keep making music…”
Sebastian Bach also weighed in, writing on Twitter: "When this guy releases an album, I'll listen to what he has to say to me about my albums."