Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Judas Priest Vocalist Rob Halford Calls for Fair Payment to Artists on Spotify


In this day and age it is becoming more and more common for consumers of music to stream their music from services like Spotify or Deezer rather than download files onto their computers/devices. However, it would seem that this new trend has not exactly worked out completely in favor of the artist. It was recently revealed that for every €9.99 someone spends on a monthly subscription only €0.68 goes to the artist. Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford has something to say about that.

In an interview with 3News Halford says:

“The big ones like Spotify appreciate the position they’re in. They’ve got buckets of money. I think you’ve just got to be ‘fair’s fair’ here. Without us, you don’t have a streaming company – that’s it, plain and simple.”

Halford feels that it will come to a battle the way things did with iTunes did within the past decade. Halford further elaborates by saying:

“It’s a struggle. It’s a battle. But I think the artists will prevail. I’m hoping we’ll see some common sense from Spotify and the others to make it all work for everybody.”

I hope for the sake of the artists who spend countless hours and money buying their equipment, honing their skills, creating something new, and then recording it that a more fair deal will be struck between them and the streaming services. It isn't right that the fat cats should keep all the money when it's the artists doing all the real work. Halford is right. Without the artists, they have no company. The streaming services need to realize this before it's too late.

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