Recently, pop star Taylor Swift has cut all ties with Spotify by removing all of her works from the company’s collection of songs. According to an interview by TIME, Swift said that she thought Spotify was not a legitimate resource, that it does not respect music and that it does not pay its artists enough. This decision is a loss for Spotify but perhaps an even bigger loss for Swift.
According to businessinsider.com, she has earned about $2 million from streaming on Spotify over the last year and stood to gain as much, if not more, this year. Additionally, illegal activities like piracy do not pay anything to artists, while Spotify has paid all holders of rights to songs on Spotify over $2 billion as of last year, according to spotify.com.
While Swift has left, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek stated that other artists like Ed Sheeran, and Lana Del Rey are staying, along with many other famous artists. These artists have rightly embraced the new model of music consumption by not only having their songs on the site, but also promoting its use.
According to usatoday.com, Swift has not only pulled her music from Spotify, but also other streaming services like Pandora and the new YouTube Music Key. She is overly ardent in fighting the streaming industry, but she is hurting her ability to gain new fans.
Swift is an amazing artist, but she is missing out on an opportunity. The industry is changing, and except for die-hard fans, people are not buying albums as they once did. In limiting her music, she cannot gain new fans. Ultimately, this move is short-sighted.