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Spotify Soars to 320 Million Listeners, with 144 Million Paid Members

posted by martyb on Friday October 30 2020, @10:09AM   
from the easy-listening dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Spotify soars to 320 million listeners, with 144 million paid members:

Spotify soared past a worldwide listener milestone as the number of people using the service climbed 29% to 320 million in the third quarter, the music streaming service said Thursday. Excluding anyone who listens free with advertising, Spotify's paid members also rose 27% to 144 million, the company said.

The latest figures further cement Spotify as the world's biggest subscription music service.

How does it compare to p2p these days?

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Original Submission

• What about the starving artists? What about the starving artists? (Score: 2) by Snospar on Friday October 30 2020, @02:16PM (4 children)

  by Snospar (5366) on Friday October 30 2020, @02:16PM (#1070843)

  How are the artists doing in this new world? I've done some Googling but didn't come up with anything conclusive, it all soon get's mired in the rights holders vs. song writers vs. performers debate. Seems equally confusing when trying to compare which service pays out more per subscriber. Anybody close to this industry here?

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• Re:What about the starving artists? (Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday October 30 2020, @03:12PM

  by DannyB (5839) on Friday October 30 2020, @03:12PM (#1070866) Journal

  I'm sure the online services and the RIAA have something worked out. After various collection society dues and fees, handling, and other costs, some money eventually* finds its way into the hands of the artists.

  _{*eventually, meaning in not less than one quarter of a galactic rotation [wikipedia.org]}

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• Re:What about the starving artists? Re:What about the starving artists? (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 30 2020, @06:42PM (1 child)

  by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday October 30 2020, @06:42PM (#1070962) Journal

  A lot of them are definitely hurting from the lack of live shows!

  Although that is presumably what drove this increase in Spotify so whatever pittance they get there has likely increased a bit.

  You can judge for yourself whether it's a good deal: What Streaming Music Services Pay Artists 2020 update [onyrix.com]

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  • Re:What about the starving artists? (Score: 2) by zoward on Friday October 30 2020, @07:21PM

    by zoward (4734) on Friday October 30 2020, @07:21PM (#1070977)

    Thanks for linking the chart. A lot of the artists I like are on Bandcamp [bandcamp.com], which pays out 80-85% of the purchase to the artist, with occasional specials running post-COVID where they pay out 100%. While I've jumped in on the 100% day just to support the artists I like, I don't think taking 10-15% for processing, streaming, etc. is unreasonable, so I have no qualms about buying any other day either.

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• Re:What about the starving artists? (Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Friday October 30 2020, @11:16PM

  by gawdonblue (412) on Friday October 30 2020, @11:16PM (#1071090)

  About a year ago I was talking to a muso from a popular band about Spotify and how very popular his band was on it, and hinted he must be doing alright. His response was that they make SFA directly from Spotify, but Spotify is used to determine which acts get which cut at music festivals, and that was good for his band as they loved playing live and headlined quite a few festivals.

  I hope they're getting more from Spotify now, because the festivals are not happening and are unlikely to be viable anytime soon.

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