UK Indie band The Pocket Gods have been fighting for fairer royalties from music streaming giant Spotify since 2015. In their efforts to raise awareness about the issue, the band has released a series of 30-second song albums.
Spotify’s current payout system only grants artists a full royalty after 30 seconds of streaming, leading The Pocket Gods to question the fairness of the system. With this in mind, they decided to create 30-second songs to highlight the small amount of money that artists receive from each play.
Their latest album, 1000X30 Nobody Makes Money Anymore, features a staggering one thousand songs, each lasting only 30 seconds. The album gained significant attention from press and fans worldwide, even earning the band a Guinness World Record. However, front person Mark Christopher Lee expressed his disappointment in the royalties they received from Spotify.
Despite almost 2 million streams of the album, the band has only earned £400 from Spotify. Lee describes this as “scandalous” and believes that something needs to be done to address the issue. He also points out that Spotify will be implementing a new minimum threshold of 1000 listeners before an artist receives payment, which will only make the situation worse.
Lee, who is a voting member of the Recording Academy (The Grammys) in the US and a member of BPI (British Phonographic Industry), is disappointed in the music industry’s response to the issue. He explains, “I shan’t be going to the Grammys or The Brits as the whole music industry is basically in denial that there is a problem.” He believes that the industry is more concerned with the financial success of major label artists rather than supporting new and emerging talent.
The Pocket Gods formed in 1998 at Tower Records in London and have since released 77 albums and over 5,000 songs. They have gained support from high-profile figures such as Tom Robinson and Seymour Stein throughout their career.
In addition to their music, the band has also released a film about their campaign titled Inspired: The 30 Second Song Movie, now available on Amazon Prime.
Distributed by Pressat, a UK-based press release distribution service, the band’s story continues to gain attention and shed light on the issue of fair royalties for artists in the music streaming industry.
