Failure Exiting Spotify Citing COVID Controversy + Artist Compensation

You can add Failure to the growing list of artists that are bowing out of the Spotify streaming service following on the heels of Neil Young's highly publicized exit from the platform.

Failure revealed their move via their social media, posting a message that stated, "Failure is parting ways with Spotify. The band encourages fans to purchase high quality downloads of their music on Bandcamp or to stream it on other platforms."

The band took it a step further elaborating on Facebook about their decision, revealing that they've questioned their involvement with the streaming giant for some time given the artist compensation rates. But with the recent controversy concerning the company's approach to the COVID vaccines misinformation from Joe Rogan's podcast that led to Young's decision to leave, they've made a similar decision to exit.

"With Spotify’s recent policy shift that allows COVID vaccine misinformation to thrive on their platform, Failure have decided that enough is enough," the band states in one portion of their message. "Beyond the moral issues raised by Spotify’s COVID decision, the issue of vaccine misinformation and how it directly affects the current situation in the live music space is simply untenable."

They add, "Right now, Failure have a 31-date US tour booked for June. The last tour we had booked in 2019 was canceled because of COVID, which was a massive financial blow to the band. The vast majority of venues on our upcoming tour are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to see our show. We simply cannot square Spotify’s insistence on spreading misinformation about something that directly endangers our band’s supply chain, namely, human beings in a room with big speakers. There are multiple layers, and reasons for our decision, but looking at the capitalistic, free market angle, this band, like any other small business, is cutting ties with a partner that continues to cut into our bottom line. On that level, this problem is really that simple."

See the band's full statement below:

Failure have wrestled with the question of Spotify and whether to have our newest music, which we control, on the platform. Until now, our ambivalence about Spotify has been based on their draconian royalty calculation which essentially gives artists a microscopic fraction of the money being generated by their music on the platform. We’ve all seen the stories of just how little Spotify pays artists whose product powers their entire business model. It's been a scam for artists since the beginning, following in the tradition of the major label model which preceded it.
But artists who want to have their music heard by the most ears possible have had a tough decision to make. Do we give our music to a company that devalues our product to the point where royalty checks from Spotify have become the butt of humorous memes, or do we withhold our music from the platform and supposedly miss out on an “entire generation of music listeners?”
That is exactly where Failure have been since 2015 when we released our first album since reuniting. Acquiescing to the desire for more ear holes. But now, with Spotify’s recent policy shift that allows COVID vaccine misinformation to thrive on their platform, Failure have decided that enough is enough.
Beyond the moral issues raised by Spotify’s COVID decision, the issue of vaccine misinformation and how it directly affects the current situation in the live music space is simply untenable. Right now, Failure have a 31-date US tour booked for June. The last tour we had booked in 2019 was canceled because of COVID, which was a massive financial blow to the band. The vast majority of venues on our upcoming tour are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to see our show. We simply cannot square Spotify’s insistence on spreading misinformation about something that directly endangers our band’s supply chain, namely, human beings in a room with big speakers. There are multiple layers, and reasons for our decision, but looking at the capitalistic, free market angle, this band, like any other small business, is cutting ties with a partner that continues to cut into our bottom line. On that level, this problem is really that simple.
Of course, no system or business is perfect, but we have alternatives to Spotify that allow the band to be compensated in a more sustainable way, and without the need to associate ourselves with dangerous lies about public health policy.
If you want to buy lossless digital versions of our entire catalogue, we encourage you to purchase our music on Bandcamp: failureband.bandcamp.com
If you want to stream our music, we continue to offer our music through Apple and other streaming services.
We encourage other artists who want to be paid better for their music, and who don’t want to be in business with a company who is comfortable jeopardizing the industry to which they owe their entire business model, to join us.
Sincerely,
Failure

At press time, the band's music remains active on Spotify, though their Spotify page does include the announcement of their pending exit.

Young initially threatened his exit "because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines," then adding that it could "potentially [be] causing death to those who believe the disinformation." After his exit, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, India.Arie and Graham Nash are among the acts who have vowed to do the same.

On Sunday (Jan. 30), Joe Rogan responded to the controversy concerning his podcast and Young's exit from the streaming service. In a posted video, the host revealed he doesn't "always get it right" on his podcast. He vowed to "do better." The same day, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced the service would start adding a disclaimer to podcasts that discuss COVID.

Meanwhile, Rogan marveled, "These podcasts are very strange because they're just conversations. And oftentimes I have no idea what I'm going to talk about until I sit down and talk to people. And that's why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I'm literally having them in real-time, but I do my best, and they're just conversations."

"I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist. I'm just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely. I get things wrong, but I try to correct them whenever I get something wrong. I try to correct it because I'm interested in telling the truth," he added, continuing, "If there's anything that I've done that I could do better, it's having more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that. And I would like to talk to some people who have differing opinions on the podcasts in the future."

Failure's most recent album, Wild Type Droid, arrived in December, featuring the single "Headstand." As revealed in their statement, Failure will be hitting the road this summer in support of the album. Dates and details can be found here.