Ozzy Osbourne Slams Spotify

Ozzy Osbourne Slams Spotify

A 2021 article from FreeYourMusic.com roughly calculated the amount of money artists earn per playback on Spotify. On average, a spin on Spotify pays about $0.004 per playback, meaning that a song would have to be streamed around 250 times to earn $1. “So you have to stream a lot to get something out of it,” reads the report. “In addition, it doesn’t mean that all the money goes to the artists. They often also have to divide the money: a record label or a manager often wants to earn some profits. So then there’s not much left. There has been a lot of controversy regarding how much Spotify pays for royalties.”

An article from Spin Magazine said: “Working musicians and superstars alike have long cited under-compensation issues at Spotify as a reason for fans and artists to seek alternative platforms.” The article continues: “Exploiting artists for profit was not invented by Spotify, but it does seem like they were better than anyone else at taking that exploitation to a completely new level, perfecting it with clever use of public assets and software automation. If artists can’t make a living wage from millions of plays of their content, it’s not a valid model. The business as a whole still isn’t profitable, but that hasn’t stopped the founder [Daniel Ek] from becoming a 3x billionaire in the process.”

In a new interview with Classic Rock, Ozzy Osbourne commented on Spotify and the challenges facing emerging new artists. “Spotify is a f*cking joke,” he said. “The royalty aspect of making music has gone right down the toilet. It’s a completely different world now. Before, you could do gigs and get spotted. Now, you buy a book on how to be a rock star, read it and go from there.”

Osbourne also commented on if he is up on social media trends. “A little bit. I don’t trust it very much. Maybe because I’m an old-fashioned guy, but everything seems to be moving too fast now.” Osbourne has had some health concerns recently, but he has remained sober. The 73-year-old “Prince of Darkness” was asked if he thinks he’ll stay sober for life. “I don’t know. I hope so,” he said. “I take it one day at a time. If I drink, I’ll drink. But I don’t want to drink today. I don’t want to smoke tobacco today. I don’t want to take drugs today. So today’s going to be okay, I suppose. I don’t know about tomorrow.” 

How has being sober changed Ozzy’s day-to-day life? “Well I don’t wake up in f*cking jail any more,” he said.

B.J. LISKO
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