Deadmau5: Enough is enough – artists need to fight Spotify!

Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Foto / GEARNEWS  · 

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Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Foto / GEARNEWS

A few days ago, musician and DJ Deadmau5 took to social media and had some choice words after hearing CEO Daniel Ek claim that content creation costs almost nothing these days (we reported on this here). Furthermore, the vocal critic said on his Instagram account: “I’m withdrawing my catalogue from those damn vultures!” This might just be the start of a “musicians’ strike” that will put pressure on Spotify (and others).

Deadmau5 on Spotify: “Those damn vultures”

Deadmau5, the widely known EDM DJ and producer, has made his displeasure with the streaming giant Spotify abundantly clear – and he’s not the only one. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek caused a worldwide uproar among artists with a tweet on X in May. He wrote: “Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content. This has sparked my curiosity about the concept of long shelf life versus short shelf life. While much of what we see and hear quickly becomes obsolete, there are timeless ideas or even pieces of music that can remain relevant for decades or even centuries.” (More on that here).

It took about two months for this news to reach EDM and electronica artist Deadmau5 (who is known for wearing a light-up mouse head when he performs live), and he wasn’t happy about it. On a widely shared post on Instagram, Joel Zimmermann said that it had taken him over 25 years to build his career. That’s a long time and a lot of effort – and a lot of money spent! He also said that a large part of his income goes directly to Spotify.

Artist uprising: Deadmau5 leads the resistance against Spotify

But Deadmau5 didn’t stop there. When a fan commented on Instagram that he also hates Spotify, he responded sharply: “I feel that, I’m about to pull my catalog from these fucking vultures, enoughs enough.” And he is not alone. Artists worldwide reacted vocally to Spotify after Ek’s comments. It seems the streaming platform has to do some damage control to keep their artists happy. They seem to have already started this with further clarifying posts in the last few days.

A kind of strike by musicians and authors might be the right way to make a statement and get people’s attention. It might even lead to some changes. But the question remains if this resulted in an actual improvement for artists. What do you think it would take to change it for the better for artists?

Further information about Spotify

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