Spotify CEO believes musicians will no longer be able to release music “once every three to four years”

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has delved into the criticism that streaming service has been subjected to, denying criticisms that the music monolith pays insufficient royalties to artists.

The interview with the CEO, published by Music Ally on Thursday. Ek disputed the “narrative fallacy”, that has music fans and creators believing that Spotify doesn’t pay enough for streams of their music.

Ek claimed that a “narrative fallacy” had been created, and subsequently music fans believe that Spotify doesn’t pay musicians enough for streams of their music. “Some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape,” Ekshared, “where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough.”

Ek mused that in the current music consumption landscape, artists need to consider more consistent commitment to their output than in the past.

“The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.”

“It’s quite interesting that while the overall pie is growing, and more and more people can partake in that pie, we tend to focus on a very limited set of artists,” Ek continued.

“Even today on our marketplace, there’s literally millions and millions of artists. What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who’s talking about… In the entire existence [of Spotify] I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single artist saying ‘I’m happy with all the money I’m getting from streaming.'”

“Stating that publicly. In private they have done that many times, but in public they have no incentive to do it. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself,” the CEO shared.

The interview featured the recent revelation of Spotify’s quarterly financial results. In Q2, the streaming service earned a revenue of $1.89 billion, a 13% increase from last year. The platform also gained 138 million subscribers and 299 million monthly active users in that quarter.

In other news, Spotify has appointed Melissa Circosta as head of communications for Australia and New Zealand, an experienced PR with stints as Comms Lead at Mastercard, as Group Account Director at Eleven PR (which counted Spotify among its clients) and, more recently, as freelance PR director at Zeno Group.

Circosta succeeds Sophie Paterson, who left in April after eight years in the position.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.