After Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify and later accused it of not fairly compensating artists, Bono came to the streaming service\u2019s defence. The U2 frontman also called out record labels and even said that Spotify and other similar platforms actually helped musicians get their music heard. \n\u201cSpotify (is) giving up 70 percent of all (its) revenues to rights owners. It\u2019s just that people don\u2019t know where the money is because the record labels haven\u2019t been transparent,\u201d the Irish rocker said during the Web Summit conference in Dublin, as cited by The Guardian.
\n\u201cThe real enemy is not between digital downloads or streaming, the real enemy, the real fight is between opacity and transparency. The music business has historically involved itself in quite considerable deceit,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut if we change that bit, and people can actually see how many times they\u2019re being played, where they\u2019re being played, get access to information on the people who are listening to them, get paid direct debit… I think those payments will add up to something, as the world gets more transparent.\u201d
\n\u201cI think artists should be paid way more than they are,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut the greatest way you serve your songs is to get them heard.\u201d Bono added that services like Spotify were good things for new artists. \u201cI\u2019m already paid too much. I\u2019m a spoiled rock star,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the wrong spokesperson for this, but I have to tell you if I were starting a band now, aged 17 or 18, I would be very excited… Though it is clear that there are some traumas as we move from physical to digital and 20th century to 21st century, and the people paying the highest price for those traumas are songwriters rather than performers, I still think forming a band is so exciting.\u201d
\nAfter pulling her music from Spotify earlier this week, Swift explained her decision when she talked with Yahoo! Music. Calling the service \u201ca grand experiment,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019m not willing to contribute my life\u2019s work to an experiment that I don\u2019t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music. And I just don\u2019t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"