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Atoms For Peace and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has hit back at criticism of his statements about the lack of payment for new bands in streaming their music through Spotify.
The frontman and solo star this week removed Atoms For Peace's debut album from Spotify, as well as his own album Eraser, in protest against low fees paifd to new artists from the service. He claimed small bands received 'fuck all' from Spotify for streaming their tracks.
Spotify denied this, and Yorke later met criticism from The Smiths producer Stephen Street, who hit out at Radiohead's 2007 release of their album In Rainbows - which they permitted fans to pay what they liked for the record.
"Bit rich coming from Thom Yorke that Spotify doesn't work for new artists," said Street on Twitter. "It's exactly what I said when Radiohead made their album available for free/ pay what you want a few years back."
"Suits superstars with 10 years of EMI investment behind them. It didn’t help new upcoming artists at all. Gave the wrong message that music had no value. It’s bitten you on the arse Thom!"
Yorke took to his own Twitter account to clarify his own position, responding to say: "Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will no get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples."
"'Your small meaningless rebellion is only hurting your fans... a drop in the bucket really' No we're standing up for our fellow musicians."
"For me 'In Rainbows' was a statement of trust. People still value new music... That's all we'd like from Spotify. Don't make us the target."
Listen to 'Ingenue' below (because you can't listen on Spotify, after all...)
Spotify responded to York's initial statements, claiming they were making active steps to ensure that new artists benefitted from being listen to on their service.
"Spotify's goal is to grow a service which people love, ultimately want to pay for, and which will provide the financial support to the music industry necessary to invest in new talent and music," a spokesman said. "We want to help artists connect with their fans, find new audiences, grow their fan base and make a living from the music we all love."
They continued: "Right now we're still in the early stages of a long-term project that's already having a hugely positive effect on artists and new music. We've already paid US$500M to rightsholders so far and by the end of 2013 this number will reach US$1bn. Much of this money is being invested in nurturing new talent and producing great new music.
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