Spotify Is Acting Like a Cartoon Villain

Songs for the Struggling Artist

Over a decade ago, my friend wished I could be there to sing her baby some lullabies so I recorded some and wrote one specifically for him. Then I burned those songs onto a CD and put them in the mail. I did this for a fair number of my friends with babies for a fair number of years. Then some of the parents of those babies wished they could listen to them on Spotify and so I put them up there and they became available for anyone who wanted them. Now, hardly anyone has a CD player anymore, so I send new babies a link. It’s somehow not as special but companies like Spotify made it this way.

My music has been on Spotify for something like seven years now. Of all the albums up there, the lullabies are the most popular and my friends who listen to them there like knowing that I get a little payment every time they listen. That’s not something that happens when you listen on a CD. The payment on Spotify isn’t much (between .002 and .005 cents per play). I made $43.24 last year (from all the streaming services, not just Spotify) but it’s something. And it is a meaningful something. It’s money I have earned in sharing my music with the world. I could have kept these songs for only the families I made them for but in sharing them on Spotify, I can also maybe buy a stuffed animal or a book for one of these babies, in addition to writing them a song.

Do I get a lot of streams? No. I don’t have a fanbase. I don’t have an agent. And Spotify’s discoverability algorithm is useless. Some of my songs get only six streams a year.

To keep reading Spotify Is Acting Like a Cartoon Villain visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.

This is Episode 378

Song: Reuben's Lullaby

Image by JJ via Wiki Commons

Link for artists to protest

Link for customers to protest

Video about what's going on

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