Spotify is not killing music, says Ninja Tune founder

Thom Yorke’s infamous quote that Spotify is "the last desperate fart of a dying corpse" is no doubt the first thing that comes to mind for detractors of the popular music streaming service. Indeed, there has been countless speculation the past few years over just how much – or little – artists receive in royalties from Spotify.

Though according to Matt Black, one of the founders of the long-standing independent UK label Ninja Tune, Spotify are the “good guys,” and it’s the major labels that are to blame for musicians receiving poor revenue from the streaming giant.

“If you’re on a major label, you don’t get much money from the sale of your music on Spotify, you just get fractions,” Black explains in a recent interview with Resident Advisor. “They use what’s called ‘Black Box Accounting’, where they don’t have to account in detail to you where the money comes in, and you just end up getting whatever they give you.”

In stark contrast, Black then goes on to reveal that every artist signed to Ninja Tune receives 50% of all their Spotify royalties because of indie label's infamous '50/50' partnerships.

“Spotify has become one of our major sources of income,” he says. “So the notion that they're killing the music business is completely untrue, from our point of view. In fact, they’re the good guys.”

Your move, Thom.