Radiohead Protests: Thom Yorke Pulls Albums From Spotify

Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke has pulled all of his albums from music-streaming service Spotify in protest at how much it pays artists. Yorke has pulled his solo album The Eraser as well as a joint project with producer Nigel Godrich, Atoms for Peace. “Meanwhile small labels and new artists can’t even keep their lights on. It’s just not right.” stated Godrich.

The singer tweeted that they were “standing up for our fellow musicians by removing their albums” Yorke also tweeted: “Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will not get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples.”

Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming service. Recent figures from the company say it has 24 million active users, of whom six million pay a monthly fee for added features. “We’re 100% committed to making Spotify the most artist-friendly music service possible, and are constantly talking to artists and managers about how Spotify can help build their careers,” stated a representative. “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.”

There has been much controversy over how much streaming sites like Spotify and Pandora pay artists, which comes as Pandora is pushing to change US laws to lower how much it must pay in royalties to songwriters. “They cannot afford the 85% pay cut Pandora asked Congress to impose on the music community,” Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason added.

It’s no wonder why Radiohead’s lead singer Thom Yorke would want to pull all of his albums from Spotify. Most of the Spotify users are able to download or listen to all of the songs for free while the artists who spent thousands of dollars recording these songs are only making pennies on the transaction.