Stream weavers: The musiciansâ dilemma in Spotifyâs pay-to-play plan
January 19, 2021 | 12:02 am
By John Hawkins, Ben Freyens and Michael James Walsh
Spotify offered the promise that, in the age of digital downloads, all artists would get paid for their music, and some would get paid a lot.
Lorde and Billie Eilish showed what was possible.
Lorde was just 16 when, in 2012, she uploaded her debut EP to SoundCloud. A few months later, Sean Parker (of Napster and Facebook fame) put her first single â âRoyalsâ â on his popular Spotify Hipster International playlist. The song has sold more than 10 million copies.
Eilishâs rags-to-riches story is a little murkier. But the approved narrative begins in 2015, when the 13-year-old uploaded âOcean Eyesâ (a song written by her older brother) to SoundCloud. She was âdiscovered.â Spotify enthusiastically promoted âOcean Eyesâ on its Todayâs Top Hits playlist. She is now the