Stream weavers: the musicians’ dilemma in Spotify’s pay-to-play plan

John Hawkins; Ben Freyens; Michael Walsh

Stream weavers: the musicians’ dilemma in Spotify’s pay-to-play plan

John Hawkins, Ben Freyens, Michael Walsh

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Abstract

Spotify offered the promise that, in the age of digital downloads, all artists would get paid for their music, and some would get paid a lot.

Lorde and Billie Eilish showed what was possible.

Lorde was just 16 when, in 2012, she uploaded her debut EP to SoundCloud. A few months later, Sean Parker (of Napster and Facebook fame) put her first single — “Royals” — on his popular Spotify Hipster International playlist. The song has sold more than 10 million copies.

Original language	English
Pages	1-6
Number of pages	6
Specialist publication	The Conversation
Publisher	The Conversation Paperpress
Publication status	Published - 5 Jan 2021

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https://theconversation.com/stream-weavers-the-musicians-dilemma-in-spotifys-pay-to-play-plan-151479?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton&fbclid=IwAR0oIJAL-cHF14DksrpQOGS3OsLFadUiwSLQTH2ywFPtQoHkAS60b19KrgULicence: CC BY-ND

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Stream weavers: the musicians’ dilemma in Spotify’s pay-to-play plan

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