In late May, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek made headlines when he tweeted , “Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content.” One person who took offense is deadmau5 , who put up an Instagram post over the weekend offering feedback on Ek’s comment. “Incorrect,” the producer’s caption reads.
“The cost of creating content was 25+ years of my life and much of those proceeds going to your company you complete f–king idiot.” The post garnered nearly 38,000 likes and many comments, with one person writing, “We hate Spotify so much,” to which the Canadian electronic producer responded by saying, “feel that, I’m about to pull my catalog from these f–king vultures, enough’s enough.” As of publishing, the producer’s catalog is still available on Spotify, where he currently boasts nearly 5 million monthly listeners.
“I’ve been saying for a long time that we as the IP owners, the artists, the artist managers and the major record companies have allowed these multibillion-dollar companies to build platforms and companies with our art and our fans, and now we’re locked out,” deadmau5’s manager Dean Wilson tells Billboard in regards to royalty rates on DSPs like Spotify. “We can’t talk to our fans on the platform with our art that we’ve built. “When you say that out loud, it’s insane that we keep allowing that to happen,” Wilson continues.
“They’re our fans that we drive to pla.