Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx thinks Bono, Taylor Swift and Dave Grohl should be publicly talking about “breakage” — when record companies get advances (not the artist) from streaming companies like Spotify. Sixx thinks “they [the artists] may not know or are afraid that their labels (or distribution companies) won’t promote them if they tell that ‘dirty little secret.’”
Sixx is right about the position that artists are in: “YouTube is playing all of their [the artists’] music and they [the artists] aren’t getting paid for it. They are making even less money from YouTube than Spotify so let’s not just target Spotify here.” Sure, more needs to be done to help new artists gain exposure but how many fans want to hear millionaire musicians complain? Nikki Sixx is reportedly worth $45 million.
