Spotify’s real problem is artists’ fees, not Joe Rogan
The music streaming service is now a Big Tech player with a misinformation problem — and a ham-fisted approach from management that has alienated its real artists
Spotify is the latest tech firm to go down the misinformation rabbit hole.But there are a whole bunch of people who want nothing more than for Spotify "to pay" for its sins — the musicians that Spotify sells."Grin and bear it", musicians were told by their labels. But all they have to show are fake grins and lots of waiting.Neil Young and Joni Mitchell will only lose an estimated 10% of their annual revenue for abandoning Spotify over Joe Rogan’s inflammatory podcast featuring an antivaxxer and for spreading Covid misinformation.But Spotify has already lost $4bn in market value in the first week since the spat made headlines, and will lose a lot more as this PR train wreck keeps running.While Spotify likes to portray itself as David in its fight with Apple over App Store payments, and other anticompetitive behaviour, it is in fact the Goliath of the streaming business, where it takes the lion’s share of revenue and pays musicians about half of what Apple Music and Amazon do.As rapp...
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