This week in defense of his streaming service, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said payouts”for a top artist like Taylor Swift (before she pulled her catalog) are on track to exceed $6 million a year.”
But Time magazine reports that over the past year, Swift was paid less than $500,000 for the domestic streaming of her songs. That info comes from Scott Borchetta, CEO of Swift’s record label. Ek didn’t say Taylor Swift specifically. He carefully said top artists like her. And he said “on track to,” presumably meaning in the 12 months after the release of her new best-selling album, 1989, not in the previous 12 months. But either way the discrepancy is causing the controversy to grow. Lack of transparency about payments is one of the charges Spotify has had trouble dismissing.
