Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has removed his solo work and those of his group Atoms for Peace from music streaming service Spotify.
Making a stand for new and emerging artists, Yorke took to Twitter to announce he would be removing his solo music and Atoms for Peace tracks from the service.
Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich lambasted Spotify on Twitter saying the service provides no support for new artists and he was “standing up for our fellow musicians.”
Spotify claims to have an active user base of around 24 million, with 6 million of those paying a £4.99 or £9.99 per month fee for the Unlimited subscription service.
“Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will no[t] get paid,” tweeted Yorke. “Meanwhile shareholders will shortly be rolling in it. Simples.”
Artists have argued that services like Spotify aren’t as attractive as selling CDs and digital downloads due to the low per-stream payments, which by industry averages are less than 0.4p.
All of Radiohead’s albums, bar In Rainbows, remain on Spotify despite Yorke and Godrich’s move.
“For me In Rainbows was a statement of trust,” added Yorke. “People still value new music… that’s all we’d like from Spotify. Don’t make us the target.”
Speaking with TrustedReviews, Spotify said it is “100 per cent committed to making Spotify the most artist-friendly music service possible.”
“Spotify’s goal is to grow a service which people love, ultimately want to pay for, and which will providethe financial support to the music industry necessary to invest in new talent and music,” said a Spotify spokesperson. “Right now we’re still in the early stages of a long-term project that’s already having a hugely positive effect on artists and new music.”
Already available for desktop platforms, Android and iOS, Spotify recently launched a dedicated app for Windows Phone 8 devices like the Nokia Lumia 925.
The new app offers most of the same functionalities as the Android and iOS versions, but fails to include the popular radio or new discovery features.
Next, read our Spotify vs iTunes radio comparison.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.