Edmonton musicians removing music from Spotify

In the footsteps of acts like King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Neil Young, and Xiu Xiu, some Edmonton artists are removing their discographies from Spotify. Spotify CEO Daniel Ekk’s investments in European AI-based defence company Helsing is a factor for them, but that’s not the only reason.

For Edmonton indie artist Sawyer Begg, the man behind Morning Coyote, it’s a feeling of being undercredited driving the decision. While Begg hasn’t as of yet pulled his own music from Spotify, he’s been a part of the conversation and isn’t shying away from the possibility. 

“Spotify can afford to pay people more than they do. And the insult comes from the fact that they’re actively trying to weasel out of paying artists or trying to find ways not to pay artists,” Begg said. 

Artist pay-out from streaming has been reported by Ditto Music to be around $0.0042 to $0.0069 CAD per stream. And as of 2024, Spotify has made the decision to not pay anyone with under 1000 streams at all. 

For Begg, his financial return from Spotify has been very minimal. He said he’s made roughly double from a limited one-time CD release than he’s ever made from Spotify. 

But overall, Begg isn’t solely looking to make money from his music. On Bandcamp, he prices his songs for $1.00 to ensure their accessibility. 

Begg also said that Spotify’s willingness to platform AI bands is another reason he’s no longer supporting the company. “That one band, [The] Velvet Sundown, that’s an entirely AI band. Even if [Spotify] isn’t consciously promoting it, the fact that it is on their platform and is getting in their editorial playlists just doesn’t sit well with me,” he said. 

The Velvet Sundown has been reported by The Fader to have been put into Spotify generated playlists. But, the group has only actually been put into user-created playlists. 

“I’ve always felt [that] algorithmic music sharing and uploading to be just kind of icky and inherently lame,” James says

For another Edmonton artist, Michael James, the man behind The Exit Bags, he’s pulled his discography from not just Spotify, but all streaming platforms. In a statement posted to Instagram, he said “it goes far beyond Spotify CEO Daniel Ekk’s investment into Helsing.” 

James told The Gateway that nostalgia to go back to pre-algorithmic music discovery is a major part. “When I think of the period of music discovery that meant the most to me as a fan, it would be 2010 – 2015. Peer-to-peer sharing was really strong. But there was also a strong, relevant set of blogs, music sites, and sharing platforms where a lot of things were word of mouth. You were still chancing upon stuff yourself in a semi-organic way,” James explained. 

He added that streaming was never really something he wanted to do. “I’ve always felt [that] algorithmic music sharing and uploading to be just kind of icky and inherently lame. I just kind of tolerated it as a necessary thing. If you’re a small to mid-level musician, you want your stuff heard. And it’s kind of what people use,” he said. 

For James, the financial aspect of streaming isn’t a factor. With the cost associated with producing, mixing, and visuals, James said he will never make money in return. “It’s a net negative,” he said. “I’d be happy to give away my music if I could, and I do sometimes. Even Tidal has a better return [than Spotify], but I’m still pulling my music from Tidal. I don’t care about [financial return],” James explained. 

Between both artists, Bandcamp is the only digital platform that they are looking to keep their discographies up on. 

Bandcamp has been traded around the last couple of years. While new ownership under Songtradr laid off half of Bandcamp’s overall staff, in a statement given to Rolling Stone they have maintained that it will operate as a music marketplace with an artist-first approach in revenue share.