News July 11, 2019

Spotify criticised for new ‘dance like nobody’s paying’ ad campaign

Spotify have attracted quite a bit of criticism for their latest ad campaign which urges listeners to “dance like nobody’s paying” in a bid to gain more subscribers to its premium service.

Ever since streaming became the most popular way for music-lovers to discover new tunes, artists have hit back at the services for the lack of money the musicians actually receive in the process.

While artists like Disturbed’s David Draiman and Car Seat Headrest have defended services like Spotify, others such as Portishead have previously noted how they received a paltry $3,280 from 34 million streams.

Despite claims from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claimed that it’s easier than ever for artists to make a living from streaming, Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein noted in February how he is forced to partake in meet and greets just to help him gain the cash he says he doesn’t make from streaming.

However, the latest ad campaign from Spotify has been soundly criticised by musicians, who have taken to Twitter to hit back at the service.

Here’s @Spotify’s new tone-deaf ad campaign. Keep in mind that it takes 380,000 streams a month on @Spotify for an artist to earn minimum wage. Meanwhile, the average @Spotify employee earns $14,000 a month. Nobody’s paying? We musicians are, with our lives. #IRespectMusic pic.twitter.com/mroqQNGxLJ
— Blake Morgan (@TheBlakeMorgan) July 9, 2019

Spotify’s new campaign – which offers users a 30-day free trial period on its premium service – simply features an image of a person dancing, accompanied by the phrase “dance like nobody’s paying”.

Musician and music activist Blake Morgan was quick to jump on the advertisement, noting the disconnect between Spotify and its artists.

“Keep in mind that it takes 380,000 streams a month on Spotify for an artist to earn minimum wage,” Morgan wrote. “Meanwhile, the average Spotify employee earns $14,000 a month.

“Nobody’s paying? We musicians are, with our lives.”

Other users were quick to jump in as well, including Cracker vocalist David Lowery, who noted that the campaign’s slogan “was/is literally true for many indie songwriters”.

Meanwhile, David Poe also chimed in, reminding people that “a culture that declares music to be worthless and disposable gets worthless, disposable music.”

Although Spotify have not responded to the criticism generated by this campaign, this controversy comes just weeks after the streaming giant revealed that it had reportedly overpaid artists and was now aiming to recover their money.