Fare thee well, Spotify.

Hey cats,

Today’s email is important, not just for Mirror Stories but for any music lover out there.

This morning, I removed my whole discography from Spotify.

Year after year, this company has been making life worse for musicians. This is nothing new. Like many, I saw it as a necessary evil. It didn’t pay shit but was a great tool for discoverability.

A few months ago, Spotify changed the terms of their service agreement for artists. And not in a light way.

By uploading your music (and any other content, artworks, videos, pictures…), you’re granting Spotify a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use it, without paying anything extra beyond streaming royalties.

What does that mean?

Spotify can now use and modify your music (and anything you upload) for whatever the fuck they want. That includes promoting their company or feeding their own AI model for exemple. And since the legal terms are super broad, it also encompasses anything they can come up with in the future.

All of that, without needing to ask, credit or pay you.

Need I carry on? 

Well, if raping your intellectual property wasn’t enough, something else happened. Last year the CEO invested millions of dollars he made from our music into military drone tech.

You have to draw the line somewhere, right? Like many artists, this is where I drew it.

If you are a Spotify user, I strongly encourage you to rethink your choice. The only way to make a change is to stop using their platform.

If you’re a music fan, the best way to support an artist is still to buy a CD from them with cold hard cash. The next best thing is Bandcamp. You can stream and buy the music you love, and most of the money goes to the artist.

My own music is still available EVERYWHERE else. This means on literally every other streaming platforms, and on Bandcamp. You even get a nice discount if you buy my whole discography at once.

Thank you for your time, folks. This was not a fun email, but it was a necessary one.

Much love,

B.

Mirror Stories
Drifters, late adopters, amaro lovers.