After Taylor Swift Pulls Catalog from Spotify, CEO Outlines the $6 Million She Would Have Made

Taylor Swift recently pulled her entire music catalog off Spotify on Tuesday, citing the reason that the streaming service perpetuates the notion that “music has no value and should be free.” In response, CEO Daniel Ek has shot back at Swift in a blog post on the official blog. Listing out three myths concerning music streaming services, Ek articulately explains why his company and similar competitors have been traditionally singled out by artists and record labels as the scapegoats for the problems facing the ailing traditional music industry. In his post, Ek contests the claim that Spotify pays nothing, saying that the company has in fact paid out more than $2 billion in royalties to artists earned from ad revenue, as opposed to the alternative which is piracy. He also argues that the music industry would do well to abandon its old business model based on physical media and controlling the distribution of songs, as consumers’ old spending habits will not return. What’s worse, Swift was on track to earning $6 million per year before she pulled her catalog. Read his argument in its entirety over here, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.