The Pocket Gods, an indie band, have been at the forefront of advocating for fair compensation for artists when it comes to music streaming services. In their documentary ‘The 30 Second Song Movie,’ they shed light on the pitiful royalties paid by platforms like Spotify – a mere £0.002 per stream.
To further illustrate the problem, The Pocket Gods created 10 albums with 100 songs, each only 30 seconds long, to showcase the absurdity of the current system. However, their campaign hit a bump in the road when Amazon pulled the documentary from Prime Video without any explanation. This raised questions about the motives of Amazon, who also operate their own music streaming service.
Despite this setback, The Pocket Gods are continuing their fight for change. They’ve gained support from major news outlets and even Spotify’s founder, but their ultimate goal is to create an ethical streaming platform that pays artists fairly. In fact, they released one final album for £1m, with only one copy made, to fund this platform. The platform will offer a payout of 1p per stream, 50 times more than Spotify’s current rate.
The Pocket Gods’ efforts are shedding light on a major issue in the music industry – namely, the lack of fair compensation for artists. It’s important for consumers to be aware of this issue and support artists who are fighting for change. By holding streaming services accountable and demanding fair compensation for artists, we can help create a more just and equitable music industry.
