Everywhere I turn on social media, folks are posting their “Spotify Wrapped” results. For the record, my top two artists were The Mountain Goats and Spanish Love Songs, and apparently I should be moving to Burlington, Vermont, because lots of fans of The Mountain Goats, Wilco, and The Replacements live there.
Anyway, if you’ve looked at your own Spotify Wrapped, you might have been surprised at the end by a “thank you” video from your favorite artist. Fans of “Weird Al” Yankovic had the pleasure of watching him not only thank them, but also throw some shade at Spotify. He says in the video, “It’s my understanding that I had over 80 million streams on Spotify this year. So, if I’m doing the math right that means I earned $12.” He ends with “Thanks for the sandwich.”
Pitchfork provides some context:
Yankovic’s video arrives roughly one week after Spotify announced a new policy on royalty payments, which will eradicate payouts for songs with fewer than 1,000 annual streams starting early next year. The platform had already received criticism for its low payments years before announcing the new compensation structure.
Thanks, Weird Al, for telling some harsh truths about Spotify. I think I need to start listening to more Weird Al—but I’ll find a different platform to do so.
