Darling Daniel Ek, King Spotify,

I should let you know this at the top, I’m not very happy with you, Danny Boy. Say, you like money? You’ve got enough of it, right? 2.9 BILLION buys a lot of jet ski’s, or whatever the hell middling computer engineers are into these days. Mountain Dew? I guess we’ll never know, mercifully. 

You know who else likes money? Can you beat me to it, dear? That’s right! MUSICIANS! You know, the people responsible for 2.9 BILLION DOLLARS of your 2.9 BILLION DOLLARS. Of course, you might call us slaves, chattel, etc. (And there may be more than a whiff of truth there, I suppose.)

Anyways, let’s begin. Allow me to introduce myself. As a man of the South, that’s just good manners, after all. My name is Adam Layne Andersen and I’m a musician, as you might’ve guessed. I’ve signed record deals both as an artist and as a label. I’ve signed management contracts, publishing deals, and merch deals. Hell, I even hold a degree in MUSIC BUSINESS. I practiced my 10,000+ hours to earn the following truth that I’m eager to share with you. (Shoutout to Mr. Gladwell) I moved to Austin from Nashville to start a new path into mobile app development before that industry got too douchey. You happen to be a perfect example of that, come to think. Fast forward to today where I am now a proud musician once more at the ancient age of 44. I look great, but I’m sore as all get out. ;)

Now, let’s take a look at the industry you saw fit to hijack for your seemingly singular personal gain & abject greed. “Ek Gotten Gains?” Still workshopping that one. Just because you can put every song in the history of songs up for streaming, doesn’t mean you should. Especially if your business model hinges on the fact that you don’t fairly compensate the musicians who provide the content you are peddling. Your approach seems haphazard at best; criminal at worst, and I’m utterly shocked you’ve lasted this long. You got em lovin’ those playlists, I guess. Clever boy.

But yes, you’ve heard all this before. You’re probably rolling your eyes thinking this is so passé “Blah blah blah, is he still rattling on? I’m on 60 Minutes, I’m a thrillionaire, no one tells me nuthin’, ad naseum).” I encourage anyone to watch Ek’s disaster of an interview on YouTube and how he fields the question around meager compensation for artists. Not well as it turns out: meekishly, timidly, criminally. The difference this time is that…do do do, we’re onto you. (Shoutout to Metric, who has a fantastic new record out. Em is a never ending source of light, magic, & melody. Catch them on tour if you can.) Also, and perhaps most crucially, there is now a viable alternative to Spotify in Bandcamp.com and their excellent mobile app. 

Which leads into my next point. Let’s consider the consumer. As Jay would say the customers, crony. I’d argue, and I do effusively, that they’re getting the shaft as well as the musicians you’ve chosen to just not pay. The other side of the token. I suspect there’s less joy streaming music as there’s little sense of ownership or pride without a collection or a physical product. (Again, I’m old and like liner notes and art ‘n’ stuff.) My favorite example outside of Bandcamp who did digital ownership right is a company Steve Jobs loved and therefore acquired: Lala.com. The model was simple. You could stream any song a limited number of times, and if you wanted to unlock, or “own” that track as a part of your collection, you’d pay 0.10 cents per song, or 1 whole dollar for the entire record, regardless of the number of tracks. In other words, you could buy a 26-song record for $1.00. Bandcamp is somewhat similar in this regard but goes one step further and allows the artist to set their own price. Guess what happens to that dollar then? It goes directly and quickly to the artist instead of a bank account with 2.9 BILLION other dollars accumulating furiously by the millisecond. And for what? And for whom? Someone who never EARNED it, and never DESERVED it. 

As I’ve mentioned, part of my background is in mobile app development. It was client work from the largest law firm in the world, and while it wasn’t bleeding edge tech, I did do enough to know that what you do is not magic. Not even fucking close, hotdog. What is magic, however, is the uncut feeling, love, and sometimes trauma that’s channeled into writing a great song. Musicians translate feeling into sound. Something special from nothing that can endure a lifetime for the right audience. The perfect song is a watermark of a time and a place in someone’s life. That’s all to say that MUSIC IS SACRED. MUSIC IS MAGIC. Your app is dogshit. Your business model is reprehensible. How dare you, sir. The temerity. 

If you’re reading this and you’re not Danny Boy, and you’re not pissed off right now, something is wrong, wrong, wrong. (Thong th’ thong thong thong! Shoutout to Sisqo. Like, duh!) We stand with and support our actor and writer brothers and sisters because they want a fair deal. They demand to be paid what they are worth for their hard work. Well, I’m standing up to say that we musicians want to finally get paid period. Music is a loss leader for Apple because Apple wants to sell MacBook Pro’s and iPhones with 14 cameras or some shit, not music. Guess who truly loses in this loss leader scenario? The musician again! They got us comin’ and got us goin’, I swear. It’s a hard knock life. If only someone had BILLIONS of dollars and an obscene amount of influence to figure out a better way. Apple’s market cap is north of 2.8 TRILLION DOLLARS as of today. Stop and think about that for a few seconds. Should any entity outside of our hilariously inept government command that kind of a bankroll? Antitrust laws be damned and forgotten, I guess. ☠️ 

Now, there IS a share of blame on the music industry, too, which isn’t doing SHIT to right the ship. Their response seems to be throwing their arms up and chalking up the downfall to “revenge of the nards.” Where’s the fucking class action suit, dudes?! Zut alors! I am utterly confused and disgusted by the lack of response or action being taken. (Teddy Roosevelt famously said “get action!” He’s also a legend for actually enforcing antitrust laws. See, that was pertinent :) The deregulation of radio stations in 1996 also wasn’t the best thing for music or musicians or fans. It was one of the most lobbied bills in the history of bills, but was intentionally kept under wraps by the big radio dawgs, who would later absorb most of the market from coast to coast, of course. This buying frenzy would also tragically mean that most stations would now lack local feeling, local personalities/DJ’s, people who truly love music, playlists based on merit, and the ability to play new artists that might not so tightly adhere to the corporate mandate for their soul-stifling target demographic. Eww, gross. Instead the stations were run by accountants and the guys that write “biznass” on a whiteboard in a Hail Mary attempt to look cool for 2 seconds in front of their colleagues. Lame as fuck, man. This paved the way for catering almost exclusively to the lowest common denominator in terms of programming and playlists. The days of tired, safe, corporate douchey radio were finally here! All for the sake of almighty profits! (This is how we got Creed, Nickelback, and suchlike) So very American, right? We love a good monopoly, don’t we, folks. (Insert traitorous president voice here if you must.) We musicians were sold out wholesale. How did the cat get so fat. Oh, and how. (Shoutout to Superdrag for writing  “Sucked Out” about this very topic. GD legends) So Daniel, yes, you’re not the only baddie in this story, but you’re pretty awful. 

To put my money, or lack thereof, where my mouth is, I’m hereby sending notice to my record label to remove any and all traces of my music effective immediately from any and all streaming platforms. Garth Brooks had it right the whole time. (Here’s an excellent recent article from the Oklahoma troubadour: https://countrytown.com/news/garth-brooks-explains-why-his-music-will-never-be-on-apple-spotify/8qBI5Ofm6eg/15-03-23 There are but a few things I know for sure in this life, and one of them is that Garth Brooks gets fuckin’ PAID. 

Wrapping up, exposure ain’t gone buy my Burger King Whopper, ain’t gonna prevent me from getting evicted, and ain’t gone pay for the GD cat food. Music requires a great deal of time, effort, practice, money, energy, patience, devotion, persistence, etc. Why do we make music? A million reasons why. (Shoutout to Fat Mike for this lyric and telling me I’m not punk enough for him 2 weeks ago at The Punk Rock Museum in Vegas. Everyone with a pulse should visit Punk Rock Museum.) Recording & releasing music takes a lot more than just blood, sweat, and tears, homie, but there’s a good amount of that too, I assure you.

WAKE THE FUCK UP, YALL!!! Sometimes I wonder if this weight was a gift to see how much we could lift (Shoutout to Caws and Nada Surf for being reliably amazing for lots of years) but no, no, no. Not when my fellow musicians are struggling to even eat ou’cheer. No!  I mean, where the fuck is Lars? Tay Tay? I’d even take Alanis at this point! (Just joking, Alanis. You know I love ya, it’s your manager I hate. Fuck Scott Welch. I’ll put that calculator up his ass next time I see him :) But seriously, y’all gone let some non-musician hack schmuck hijack your entire industry?! Just let future generations suffer the indignity of outright robbery by a billionaire robber Barron? Cmon y’all, we’re smarter and stronger than that. Stand with your musicians! #deletespotify 

As for you Danny boy, newsflash: this music ain’t your fuckin’ industry. Make it nice. 

Calls To Many Actions! What you can do right now to help:

Spotify subscribers: now is the time to act. I implore you to stand with your musicians by canceling & deleting Spotify today. Please do it right now. Download the Bandcamp App instead of Spotify. It might even be cheaper for you ultimately, and you’ll be supporting your musicians directly in a very real and immediate way. Like, the realest way, y’all, fuh rill. Trill.

Musicians: pull your music from subscription platforms today, starting with Spotify. Set up your Bandcamp page. We will not stand for it anymore. We will not be used and reused, nor  will we be refused. (Shoutout to The Refused for writing one of the best songs of all-time, “New Noise”) Get thee behind me. This here IS the new noise. ⚡️ 

Danny Boy & Spotify et al:

1) Change your business model because MUSIC ≠ An Illegal Streaming Subscription. My music family will not be complicit in your criminal scheme any longer. 

2) PAY restitution, perhaps you could start in the form of donating to music-focused charities such as Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), the Recording Academy’s MusiCares, SIMS Foundation, Recovery Unplugged, and the like. Millions, not thousands, my dawg. Make a splash, you’ll feel great giving back, trust me. It’s the right thing to do. 

3) #DeleteSpotify altogether and buy a fleet of 7,000 jet skis to impress Zuck on Lake Tahoe. Just think, you hotshots can laugh the day away sharing sweet stories about how you fleeced us all. Bonne chance, mon cœur ♥️. We’ll keep an eye out for those wires, baby.

PS: if you’ve made it this far, you owe it to yourself to read this post by a band called The Bobby Lees. It inspired me to no end and moved me to action: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzJImijuL3A/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

xoxo