If Spotify pays so little, why do artists still let them use their music?
Well I'm an actual artist, and my music in on spotify, so I'll answer since I don't agree with what's been said already.
I DO have pretty much complete control over where my music is distributed. You're correct in saying spotify doesn't pay a lot of money. But that's not the whole picture. If you're only counting streams then it seems like it's totally not worth it (I have over 1,000,000 total plays and have made less than $200 on it). However, you have to factor in other things-
1) Sales- people can buy discover and buy your music through spotify. The amount I've made through sales would in my opinion make it worth it even if they paid nothing for streaming. More and more people are using spotify almost exclusively for music discovery and purchasing, and I think it's important to be in that market.
2) YouTube- you have to realize that all the music is already up for stream on other places for completely free. My videos on YouTube (not uploaded by me) are monetized to me. That means there's an ad and a link at the bottom to buy the song on iTunes. I have probably 2,000,000 views total across these videos, I haven't seen a dime from YouTube. I have seen money from the links but I don't have exact numbers. So if people want to listen to my music online for free they already can, I'll take spotify's tiny amount of money for them to do it in that app.
3) Fans- before I had my music on spotify, I got 3 emails a day asking for it. People love spotify. It's a great app. And the people who support me being happy is important to me. And because of the top two reasons, it's been a good choice monetarily.
These reasons may not apply to Rhianna, who everyone already knows and has a huge advertising budget anyway, but I think they do in a way. Retaining the people who are fans of yours is important, especially if you want them to come see you when you're in their city.
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