money and music

There's always been a bunch of problems where music meets money.

Steve Albini has beautifully told the tale^[1]. Courtney Love, too^[2].

Payola^[3] set some of it off in the 1940s, and it just got worse as Spotify and their cohorts came along.

My main problem with capitalist companies like Spotify is that they will always put the profits of company shareholders over the interests of the people who make the product that Spotify sells: the artists.

It's great to see people self-publish their music. It's great to see people choosing different music-streaming platforms that benefit artists.