Streaming

Coldplay, Tom Waits Say NO To Spotify, All Streaming

image from www.google.comColdplay and Tom Waits are the latest and most high profile artists to join the anti-music streaming movement.  New releases by both Coldplay and Waits will reportedly be kept of all streaming music services including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and others. Some major artists like Adele and Pink Floyd are available on some services and not others.

Coldplay's label, EMI is "embarrassed" by the band's decision to not allow streaming, according to Greg Sandoval of CNet. The band reportedly won't stream because they believe the "Mylo Xyloto" album should be heard as one cohesive work rather than as singles.

A slowly growing number of other artists each have their own reasons for not jumping on the streaming bandwagon.  Avant cellist Zoe Keating is anti-Spotify because it's giving indies a smaller cut than major labels. In a recent This Week In Music interview, Joe Purdy manager Brian Klien expressed concerned that revenue from streaming won't replace lost sales, and said he's taking a wait and see attitude. Spotify's facilitation of music discovery is less of an issue for Purdy, says Klein, who streams his music free on his own web site. 

How does Spotify answer these compliants? "We have strong support from the music industry," Spotify has said in previous statement. "We of course respect the decision of any artist who chooses not to have their music on Spotify for whatever reason. We do however hope that they will change their minds as we believe that the Spotify model is adding, and will continue to add, huge value to the music industry. Right now we have already convinced millions of consumers to pay for music again, and that they are generating real revenue for the music business."

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18 Comments

  1. Jimmy
    It’s so weird for artists. How much do labels make off digital advances, etc.?
    Maybe a class action suit? Is it because major labels own a chunk of Spotify?
    Jenn

  2. “The band reportedly won’t stream because they believe the ‘Mylo Xyloto’ album should be heard as one cohesive work rather than as singles.”
    I would contend that people are FAR MORE LIKELY to listen to the entire work if it is streaming vs. purchasing on iTunes. As if this was the actual reason….

  3. Will Coldplay release this album via iTunes? And if so, will they not allow individual tracks to be downloaded? This whole “we want it to be heard as an album” reasoning is weak. In fact, people would be MORE likely to listen to the whole thing via Spotify in most cases.

  4. This is so stupid! If they want it to be heard as an album put it on Spotify as one big track.
    Coldplay<->Spotify is the new Metallica<->Napster
    Spotify was turning illegal downloaders into legal streamers. Things like this will make them return to their old habits.
    Hurray for Coldplay!

  5. Illegal downloaders will always be illegal downloaders. None of them are paying for the premium Spotify service – c’mon.
    I’m actually glad I don’t have to hear Coldplay on Spotify, even by accident.
    Tom Waits fans listen to vinyl and cassettes, so his tunes not being on Spotify is a moot point.

  6. I’m not a big fan of the new Coldplay album, but I’ve liked their previous stuff very much. No one wants to come out and say they are doing something because they want to make more money which will make them look like a douche. I can’t blame them for THAT and they have enough fans, like Waits, that they don’t need to the extra exposure.
    Free album download at http://www.facebook.com/chancius

  7. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg…
    Wait till artists start to see their BMI and ASCAP checks disintegrating, it won’t be pretty.
    EMI is embarassed? I’m sure if they were to poll the majority of their artists they’d hear a similar sentiment. Then again, they’ve been rather busy defaulting on loans and being bought and sold as of late.
    WMG will be acquiring them soon.
    I’m happy Coldplay has decided to stay away from streaming, for whatever reason. They can spin it however they want, it’s really up to them to decide how their works are distributed and in what way they believe it’s value is best created and maintained.

  8. coldplay should tell radio to spot playing the single
    and they should stop playing the single on TV and every other fucking place their promoting that shit.

  9. Tom Waits has streamed his album through his website for a while before its release. Does that not count?

  10. You’re wrong, Pimpy C. Since I’ve picked up Spotify Premium, I’ve stopped downloading music unless it isn’t in the Spotify catalog. Pirates won’t always be pirates
    But even when I was a pirate, I still bought music if it was good enough to warrant a purchase and if the artist was offering something worth purchasing (ie: I refuse to buy a CD but I’ll gladly pick up a vinyl)

  11. I am a premium Spotify Subscriber and I illegally downloaded the new Coldplay when I realized it wasn’t goin g on Spotify.

  12. But i want any intellectual property whenever I want it, and I want it for free, if you disagree with me you are a fascist. #OccupySpotify.
    Here is some free art for you freethinkers:
    =8-(|)

  13. Coldplay are citing the same argument for not wanting their new album on Spotify as did Pink Floyd on iTunes, who didn’t want their albums parceled up into individual track downloads
    I’m pro-digital music / streaming / music industry 6.0x (whatever) but it can be argued that the digitisation of music has changed the way we can access the album – now as a bunch of singles or as a ‘complete body of works’ – so fair ’nuff to Coldplay for standing by their artistic integrity on this one.
    At the end of the day it is up to the recording artist to decide how their music should be accessed and heard, not the record label.

  14. Spotify is bad for the artist on the whole, you get the ‘the fact that its on spotify means your music gets heard’ crowd (really? musicians need to learn to promote themselves better then if this is your argument) only that you get paid absolutely nothing, all they care about is any potential advertising revenue through traffic, essentially you are paying them a premium to be advertised to and they are paying most artists like 0.000012p per stream. They pay record companies an advance of which the artist sees nothing. In 2010 on spotify of 10 million users only 1 million were paid subs. How do you actually expect them to make that 2nd or 3rd album? off the revenue from your streams? funny people you are. Don’t give me the ‘artists make their money off touring and merch these days’ crap either, artist always made money this way but it serves as promotion, as does radio play, making effort to get into magazines etc not one of their only sources of income.
    The fact is, it’s alot of tech companies wanting to pay absolutely nothing to make a tonne of money off of someone else intellectual property, so ok tech company I want to put your software up for everyone to stream and use at a premium and pay u 0.000012p for every time they use it. I didn’t think so.

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