A few weeks ago, I removed all my music from Spotify.

You may not know this, but on top of producing other artists’ records, I do release my own songs. And following the latest changes to their terms of service, I decided that enough was enough.

I ain’t the only one. Plenty of artists much bigger than myself left the platform in the last few months.

Yet, mentioning it to people around me, I realised how many musicians were not even aware of these changes.

Hence today’s letter. After all, the first newsletter I ever sent out was about Spotify. Remember? When they stopped paying royalties on songs under 1000 plays.

A lovely change already.

But as I thought it would, it got much, much worse in the last two years.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or anything of the sort. I will simplify all the legalese bullsh*t so that it is easier to understand for us regular folks. I’ll give you the facts, but after that, it’s up to you to make an informed decision, as they say.

So last September, Spotify changed their terms of service for artists yet again. Before we dive in, User Content means your music, artworks, pictures, videos… Anything you upload to their platform, basically.

Here goes:

“By posting User Content to the Service, you, on behalf of your Subscribing Entity, grant Spotify a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, fully paid, worldwide license to reproduce, make available, perform and display, translate, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, and otherwise use such User Content through any medium, whether alone or in combination with other content or materials, in any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created, in connection with Spotify for Artists and Spotify's music streaming service, the promotion and marketing of Spotify for Artists and Spotify's music streaming service and the promotion and marketing of Spotify for Artists and Spotify's music streaming service.

If you do not want Spotify to use your User Content for these purposes, you should not post User Content to Spotify for Artists.

To the extent you provide User Content that contains your name, likeness or photograph, you further grant us the non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide right to use such name, likeness, and photograph on Spotify for Artists and Spotify's music streaming service and in our marketing communications to advertise, market and promote the availability of your User Content on Spotify for Artists and Spotify's music streaming service. Where applicable and to the extent permitted under applicable law, you also agree to waive, and not to enforce, any "moral rights" or equivalent rights, such as your right to be identified as the author of any User Content, including Feedback (as defined below), and your right to object to derogatory treatment of such User Content.”

Translation? They can now do whatever the fuck they want with your stuff.

Training their own AI model using your songs, promoting their company… Whatever comes to mind, it is now legal.

They don’t need to ask you, credit you or pay you anything extra. And since the terms are super broad, they also encompass anything they can come up with in the future.

How on Earth is that even possible?

You might be thinking it’s free exposure, if they use your song or your artwork in an ad campaign. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I fail to see how it’s exposure if you’re not even credited.

To me, this is not free exposure. This is a violent rape of my intellectual property.

And let’s not forget that they are training their AI with your art. How delightful.

Give it another year or two, and they won’t even need your music anymore. Their own AI music machine will “create” everything in-house. No more musicians. 100% profit.

But it’s still a great tool for discoverability, right? Well, nowadays, most argue TikTok is better.
But regular people use Spotify and not Apple Music, Deezer or Tidal, let alone Bandcamp. So you have to be on it if you hope to make it big.

Right..?

How much do you make from Spotify per month? Coz they still are the worst payers in the industry. There’s a good chance you can make up the difference by picking up an extra shift at work. Could even be one hour a month.

For me, it was an easy decision to make. I release music for myself and for a small audience. I don’t plan on ever selling out Wembley.

You might think, streaming is all the same, it’s all rotten anyway.

Streaming has its flaws, for sure. But they’re not all that evil. I went and read the terms of the other major streaming platforms. I couldn’t find anything close to being that horrible.

On a brighter note, Deezer has been developing a tool to detect AI music. They identified and demonetised millions of fraudulent tracks on their service already. They’re now making this tool available to the other streaming platforms.

Pretty sure they won’t be getting a call from the Spotify team.

Oh, and if defiling your intellectual property wasn’t enough… Last year, Spotify’s CEO invested 100 million dollars in military drone technology.
Yes, you read that right.

Now, I don’t care what you think about the military. But if you have a hundred million dollars to spare, artists need a raise, you maggot. Period.

So there you have it, cats. The cards are dealt. Now it’s up to you to play your hand.

Thank you for reading me today. It was not a fun email to write, but it felt like a necessary one.

But then again, what do I know…

Ps: please remind your friends & family to subscribe.