Historically, musical artists have been known to go a few years without releasing a new album. That still happens often today, although as technology evolves, musicians are prone to putting music out more regularly. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek believes that way of doing things is the future, and said that artists who only put out an album “every three to four years” shouldn’t expect to thrive in the streaming landscape.
In an interview with Music Ally, Ek said:
“Some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough. The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.”
He also discussed the viability of streaming music as a sole source of income for some artists, which he says is becoming a more common reality:
“It’s quite interesting that while the overall pie is growing, and more and more people can partake in that pie, we tend to focus on a very limited set of artists. Even today on our marketplace, there’s literally millions and millions of artists. What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who’s talking about… In the entire existence [of Spotify] I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single artist saying, ‘I’m happy with all the money I’m getting from streaming,’ stating that publicly. In private they have done that many times, but in public they have no incentive to do it. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.”
Read the full interview here.