Spotify Receives Praise From Dave Stewart and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason

Spotify's getting some positive attention from celebrity musicians of late. Dave Stewart, who only last year was warning musicians away, is now praising the streaming music service. Instead, he's focusing his ire on labels and publishing companies and responding to past abuses by launching a bank for musicians. Pink Floyd's Nick Mason also recently had kind words for Spotify, stopping a bit short of Stewart's praise, but saying that Spotify "was a success" for the band.

Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich's noisy exit from Spotify may have given the impression that major artists were starting to revolt. Dave Stewart was only recently in their camp maintaining that musicians would do better "selling their albums out of the boot of a car."

Dave Stewart Proposes Spotify Worship

But now Stewart, known for many things including his role in the Eurythmics, is praising Spotify and has this to say about Yorke and Godrich:

"They were misinformed. I think they just suddenly got a bee in their bonnet, because Spotify is one of the few companies that is transparent and actually pays properly – as a songwriter you should worship Spotify, because they've come along with a solution."

The apparently freshly educated Stewart, who's known for some inspired business moves, says that Spotify just needs more subscribers:

"It's a volume business. If they had 100 million subscribers, which is possible, the payment [for the Eurythmics catalogue] would be equal to the band's income back at the peak of selling."

However Stewart is turning his wrath against a more traditional opponent, labels and publishing companies who have a long history of shady accounting. In fact, he's opening First Artist Bank about which I bet we'll be hearing a lot in coming days.

Pink Floyd's Nick Mason Calls Spotify a Success

Nick Mason recently made an appearance at The Wall Street Journal Tech Cafe in London. Though Pink Floyd initially withheld their music, Mason said he now views Spotify as part of the future:

“Spotify for us was a success…A lot of people have been streaming our music, and importantly also a lot of people who weren’t yet familiar with our music. Perhaps I would say something different if we were having this discussion a year and a half ago, but now it’s becoming clear that streaming is not another form of piracy, and you can argue that more music is being listened to now than…in the past.”

Mason also had a lot to say about other topics including the need for new forms of artist development.

More:

• How To Make The Most Of Your Music On Spotify
• Thom Yorke, Nigel Godrich Exit Spotify In Protest: "New artists get paid fuck all."
• Spotify Adds Four, Now In 32 Countries

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.