It’s not breaking news that streaming services don’t contribute kindly to an artists bank account, just take a look at the case of Pharrell last year, and with the recent royalties paid to triphop legends Portishead, the case of Spotify, iTunes, YouTube as well as major labels, looks to be further tarnished.
Geoff Barrow, one of the three masterminds from Portishead, has taken to social media to share with the world the abysmal amount of money he received from streaming services, as Consequence of Sound points out.
[include_post id=”440759″]
The multi-instrumentalist posted a series of Tweets explaining that for 34,000,000 streams of Portishead tunes, Barrow only received £1700 after income tax, which if roughly adjusted to the AUD, equates to approximately $3280.00. Insane, right?
34,000,000 streams Income After tax = £1700 Thank U @apple @YouTube @Spotify especially @UMG_News for selling our music so cheaply.
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) April 13, 2015
Sorry seems like my tweet has hit a nerve! that’s a rough estimate but it’s not far off When is this madness going to stop? — Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) April 13, 2015
I’ve got nothing against streaming a record But I’ve got a lot against people giving my work away for free
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) April 13, 2015
I’m not here to argue about streaming music, It’s here and it works! What I tweeted was just a fact, take from it what you will.. — Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) April 15, 2015
There’s been no official response from Universal Music Group, however as Barrow isn’t the first artist to hit-out against labels and streaming services, we’re not too sure if we’ll hear anything from UMG.
