Did you really think that the hoopla behind Century Media Records pulling their catalog off of Spotify would die down? Century Media’s official statement explaining their decision has gotten a huge response from pretty much everyone, and they haven’t been helping themselves by continuing to respond to Metal Sucks. And now Spotify has added their two cents.
The European music service issued the following statement to Digital Music News:
“We are sorry that Century Media have opted not to offer its music to their fans through Spotify. Spotify has one of the biggest music libraries in the world – of over 15 million tracks – and is committed to offering our users the widest possibleselection of music across artists and genres from around the world.
Spotify was launched out of a desire to develop a better, more convenient and legal alternative to music piracy. Spotify now monetizes an audience the large majority of whom were downloading illegally (and therefore not making any money for the industry) before Spotify was available.
Spotify is now generating serious revenues for rights holders; since our launch just three years ago, we have paid over $100 million to labels and publishers, who, in turn, pass this on to the artists, composers and authors they represent. Indeed, a top Swedish music executive was recently quoted as saying that Spotify is currently the biggest single revenue source for the music industry in Scandinavia.
Spotify is now also the second single largest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, April 2011). Billboard reported in April that Spotify territories saw an average digital growth rate of 43% last year. By contrast, neighbouring countries (without Spotify) saw only 9.3% digital growth. We are very proud of the positive contribution that Spotify makes towards growth in the music industry.”
While Century Media may disagree, there’s at least one metal label that shares Spotify’s stance. Though much of the criticism has been on Century Media, they are not the only metal label to not have their catalog on the music service. So while Spotify may be a great tool for bands and labels now, and may boast over 15 million songs, they still lack a hefty amount of music. Nonetheless, the majority (minus a few label heads) believe that Spotify is fantastic. Whether that minority will cross the line eventually will depend on Spotify’s growth or their stance on how much they pay the labels and artists.
