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Spotifyis getting annoyed with artists accusing it of hoarding all the money from streaming music.

If you want to support artists, streaming isn’t the way to do it.

A band playing live against a bright bank of lights, with the crowd in front of them

Where does the Spotify money actually go?

They pay rights holders, who in turn pay artists and songwriters based on their individual agreements.

Themusic streaming servicesdon’t pay artists directly, and they don’t pay per stream.

That’s great if you’re Taylor Swift or Kendrick Lamar.

But it’s not so great if you’re a garage band just starting out.

Now that artist would earn $0.

$60 is not life changing, and it’s also not nothing."

But the very smallest artists aren’t making much money, or any money at all.

Today, Spotify hosts well over 100 million tracks.

And these small payments are often forgotten about.

Spotify does not make additional money under this model.

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It’s to buy their merchandise.

And most of all, it’s to go to their shows.

There’s no guarantee of that through streaming alone.

If you love a band, don’t just stream them.