As consumers, we hear that artists are being ripped off by Spotify but how, and just as importantly, why does it happen? For a musician, uploading songs to Spotify is a double-edged sword as far as I can tell. Some pretty big positives and one enormous negative.
First, there are the positives. Uploading a song/album has the potential to expose your work to millions and millions of users, there is the convenience of having a massive company host and deliver your work and, for new artists, the kudos and validation of having your music available on one of the biggest platforms on the planet.
The negatives? Well, the obvious one is you get screwed over for royalties unless you are Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift.
So what is the answer for new and smaller artists? Remove your songs from the system. How will that hurt a company as vast and profitable as Spotify? According to Benn Jordan, it might just start a snowball that will bring the whole thing down.
In this video, Jordan explains the Blitzscalling strategy Spotify used to build its customer base, how it is the labels, not the artists that benefit most from the revenue generated, and how he is confident the whole thing will fail in his "investor's guide to breaking the thing you're trying to sell." Click on the image below to watch.
