It’s getting to the point where it’s harder and harder to listen to metal on Spotify. Following in the footsteps of Century Media and Metal Blade, Prosthetic Records have reportedly pulled their catalog from the European music streaming service.
According to LA Weekly’s West Coast Sound blog, Prosthetic Records co-owner E.J. Johantgen claims that “There [does] not appear to be an upside,” and that even on their biggest titles the company only receives “fractions of pennies” from Spotify. “I would like to see what their projected ad revenue would be. Then we could really determine if their rates are fair,” Johantgen added. This brings to light how some independent labels feel that they and their artists are not getting fair payment. While Spotify is standing their ground, saying that artists and labels are gaining a lot from the service, some evidence proves differently.
At the moment, we’re not sure when Prosthetic will remove their entire catalog. Skeletonwitch’s entire catalog has been removed, while Animals As Leader’s self-titled debut is still on Spotify. It is quite possibly that albums will be slowly removed over time, while some are still streaming (for instance, All That Remains’ titles may remain online since most of them were released in conjunction with Razor & Tie) .
Whatever the case may be, this serves as another blow to Spotify. One of Spotify’s biggest weaknesses at the moment is that they’re still missing a lot of music. In order for the service to grow, so does Spotify’s selection. Prosthetic may not be one of the bigger metal labels, but it’s definitely an influential one. While there are still some that love the service, Spotify needs to figure out what they’re doing before too long.
