Björk has been doing press interviews to promote the livestream of her new Apple TV+ concert film Cornucopia, which is being released today.
However, one particular remark she made about Spotify during an interview with Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter has been making waves: “Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians.”
Björk made this comment while discussing her preference for creating new music rather than touring. “The live part is, and always will be, a big part of what I do,” she said, according to a translation from Swedish. “But I’m lucky because I no longer have to raise money on touring, which younger musicians are often forced to do.”
She went on to explain, “In that respect, Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians. The streaming culture has changed an entire society and an entire generation of artists.”
To clarify, her statement was aimed at the streaming economy as a whole, which has had both positive and negative effects.
On one hand, streaming services helped revive an industry that had been severely affected by illegal downloading, which generated no income for artists and rights-holders such as labels and publishers for over a decade.
On the other hand, these platforms pay musicians, and especially songwriters, only a tiny fraction of what they would earn from physical music sales like vinyl and CDs.
Streaming services typically pay between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream, which is given to rights-holders (usually labels and publishers), who then distribute the money to artists, songwriters, and other involved parties.
The small payments have led to a situation where only the most-streamed artists—typically major superstars—can make substantial income from streaming. As a result, many musicians have had to rely on touring, merchandise sales, and brand partnerships to earn a living.
However, this model has faced challenges in recent years, as the post-pandemic recovery in the live-music industry has slowed, and the current economic climate has led to lower-than-expected ticket sales for many tours, even those by major artists.
This has created a serious crisis for musicians, who now struggle to make a living while music companies—especially streaming services—continue to profit. Spotify’s CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek has a net worth of $7.4 billion. It’s evident that the streaming economy is in desperate need of rethinking.