Spotify CEO: artists need to release music with greater regularity to keep up in modern market

by: Rugby Scruggs Aug 4, 2020

Putting years-long gaps in between releases simply won’t cut it in today’s music market, according to Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek. In a recent interview with MusicAlly, Ek discussed artists’ need to release music with greater regularity than in past years, due largely to the rise of music streaming and the changes that it has introduced to standard release processes. Ek said,

“There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three- to four-years and think that’s going to be enough.

The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans… I feel, really, that the ones that aren’t doing well in streaming are predominantly people who want to release music the way it used to be released.”

Regularly releasing music also buoys artist pay. For example, considering that Spotify’s per-stream payout averages $0.00437, musicians could see greater cashflow in frequently distributing productions that could attract Spotify artist page views and streams. Ek maintains that this is precisely what artists must do in order to not only stay engaged with their respective followings, but also generate enough revenue to live.

Several members of the electronic music community, including Herobust and MUST DIE!, have since responded to Ek’s comments on Twitter.

Featured image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration