Former FEAR FACTORY vocalist Burton C. Bell recently shared his Spotify Wrapped For Artists stats, highlighting his 2024 streaming numbers. The metrics revealed how many fans listened to his music, total streams, listening hours, and the number of countries his music reached.
Bell expressed mixed emotions about these stats in a social media post earlier today (December 6). While he appreciated the global support from fans, he criticized Spotify’s payment structure for artists. He wrote:
“Seeing my music resonate worldwide and knowing fans continue to support me is truly heartwarming. THANK YOU to all my listeners around the globe! Your support means everything to me.
“But the harsh reality stings. For all the streams my music received, Spotify will compensate me with just $4.29 — roughly $0.003 per stream, not even a full penny. #fuckspotify
“[Spotify CEO] Daniel Ek profits billions on the backs of artists who make the platform what it is, yet we see little to no fair compensation for our hard work. How are artists supposed to survive under these conditions?
“To make matters worse, gaining traction on Spotify often requires paying for promotional services — a ‘pay-to-play’ culture now entrenched in the digital age.”
Bell’s frustration echoes sentiments he expressed in 2015 about the inequities in streaming royalties. In an interview with Rodney Holder of Music Business Facts, Bell called out companies like Spotify and Pandora for exploiting outdated copyright laws from the 1940s to minimize payouts to songwriters. He criticized the systems that allow platforms to pay artists “almost nothing,” citing an example where a hit song like Adele’s Someone Like You generated over 11 million plays on Pandora, yet its writer earned only $11,000.
“These laws were never designed for the digital era, and streaming platforms are using them to avoid fair compensation,” Bell said at the time. “It’s absurd, and it’s harming artists who rely on these royalties to make a living.”
Bell’s post underscores the ongoing debate about how streaming services impact artists’ livelihoods in the modern music industry.