Spotify’s Daniel Ek: killing the golden goose, one download at a time| Rebecca Nicholson | The Guardian

The streaming site’s boss is deaf to the creative process when he complains that artists are too slow with their talentAfter reading a recent interview with Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, which had a “how to lose friends and alienate people” approach to public communications, I tried to unravel the economics of how on earth musicians are supposed to manage on the royalties that streaming services send their way.I found myself so tangled up in tiny percentages and splits that I gave up and reached for the nearest soothing Chillout playlist. Ek, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $4bn (£3bn), gave a surprisingly honest interview to the website Music Ally, in which he framed critics as the old guard, ill at ease with the inevitable new way. Continue reading…

The streaming site’s boss is deaf to the creative process when he complains that artists are too slow with their talent

After reading a recent interview with Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, which had a “how to lose friends and alienate people” approach to public communications, I tried to unravel the economics of how on earth musicians are supposed to manage on the royalties that streaming services send their way.

I found myself so tangled up in tiny percentages and splits that I gave up and reached for the nearest soothing Chillout playlist. Ek, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $4bn (£3bn), gave a surprisingly honest interview to the website Music Ally, in which he framed critics as the old guard, ill at ease with the inevitable new way.

Continue reading…