Producer Tony Visconti has shared his views on Spotify, criticising the streaming service as “disgusting” over its low payments to artists.
Visconti, best known for his lifelong work with David Bowie, was asked by The Independent about a tweet in January in which he asked followers to help him delete his Spotify account.
It came during backlash around podcaster Joe Rogan, whose show on the platform was criticised for sharing misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, and which led to artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removing their music.
Visconti clarified that he did not eventually delete his account. “I thought about it, but I use Spotify as a tool,” he said. “You can’t start banning people because they have a different political view than you, and I think the truth comes out anyway.
“Once you start banning people and censoring them…it’s not free. You have to give people equal time and let others decide what’s the truth.”
He did, however, criticise Spotify for the amount of money they pay artists per stream, which is believed to be between £0.002 to £0.0062.
“Spotify is disgusting, the money they make out of [artists],” Visconti said. “If you had 12 million streams, you could barely afford lunch for two people. It’s ridiculous, I don’t know why it’s allowed. Spotify does nothing to support the culture of music.”
He’s not the only veteran musician to hit out at Spotify’s streaming payments. Recently David Crosby said in an interview: “I don’t like any of the streamers, because they don’t pay us properly. Their proportion is wrong. They’re making billions with a ‘b’ and they’re paying out pennies with a ‘p.’”
In January, meanwhile, Visconti’s Bowie tribute band Holy Holy announced that they have removed drummer Woody Woodmansey from an upcoming tour due to his unvaccinated COVID status.
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