Dee Snider Says Spotify’s CEO ‘Should Be Taken Out and Shot’
Dee Snider didn’t mince words when asked about the financial difficulties facing musicians today.
The Twisted Sister frontman was a guest on The Jeremy White Show and admitted he and his fellow rockers are “killed” by the streaming service's low payments.
“Spotify, the wholesale, you pay the one monthly fee [format], we’re getting so, so little. And that guy from Spotify, he should be taken out and shot. When he heard that artists were complaining about how little we were paid, his response was ‘make more music.’ Like we’re producing cans of Coke.”
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Snider was referring to billionaire Spotify CEO Daniel Ek who in 2020 noted that “some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough.”
“Make more music. It’s insulting and belittling,” Snider contended, before noting the one avenue he still sees for artists to make a living. “Licensing is the last godsend, the last oasis, where you can actually make some money,” the singer insisted. “Steven Spielberg chooses ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for the finale of Ready Player One. Thank you, God. Because I'm not getting anything from Spotify.”
Artists Criticizing Spotify
This isn't the first time that Snider has been critical of Ek. "While you (the listener) benefit & enjoy Spotify, it's part of what's killing a major income stream for artist/creators,” the Twisted Sister frontman noted when the CEO made his infamous comments in 2020. "The amount of artists ‘rich enough’ to withstand this loss are about .0001%. Daniel Ek's solution is for us to write and record more on our dime?! Fuck him!"
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Other artists, including David Byrne, Neil Young, R.E.M.'s Mike Mills and the Black Keys have also been critical of Spotify's payment methods in the past.
Though exact rates can vary by artist and agreement, it's estimated that Spotify pays approximately $0.003 – $0.005 per stream.
