Björk: “Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians”

Björk has reflected on the world of streaming and said that she thinks Spotify is “probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians”.

• READ MORE: Björk: “First you create a universe with sound, then you move into it”
  

She made the comments during a recent interview with Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter, where she was promoting the upcoming livestream of her new concert film Cornucopia, which will debut on Apple TV+ later today (January 24).

Later in the discussion, however, the artist recalled her approach towards making new music and shared how she has fortunately never felt pressured to develop a tour purely to create an income.

Discussing her approach to developing new material, she said: “It is only in darkness that you can plant a new seed. For the seed to grow into a healthy and vigorous plant, you need privacy. You need a few years of no one knowing what you are doing, not even yourself.”

As for the hopes of some tour dates, she said her focus in now on creating new music instead. “Right now I’m more busy getting out all the ideas I have inside me. I feel far from finished, and time is running out. What if I had to make 20 more albums? Given my pace, I’ll probably make five at best before I die,” she explained.

“The live part is, and always will be, a big part of what I do. But I’m lucky because I no longer have to raise money on touring, which younger musicians are often forced to do,” she added. “In that respect, Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians. The streaming culture has changed an entire society and an entire generation of artists.”

This isn’t the first time that Björk has shared her thoughts on the streaming platform. Back in 2015, she also opened up about her decision not to release her album ‘Vulnicura’ on Spotify out of “respect” principles.

“It just seems insane,” she said at the time. “To work on something for two or three years and then just, ‘Oh, here it is for free’. It’s not about the money; it’s about respect. Respect for the craft and the amount of work you put into it.”

The comments align with the outlook shared by Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante last November, when he described streaming as the place “where music goes to die”.

“Subconsciously this may be the reason why we don’t make records every three years or whatever, because I don’t want to give it away for free,” he said. “It is basically stealing. It is stealing from the artist – the people who run music streaming sites like Spotify. I don’t subscribe to Spotify. I think it is where music goes to die.”

There have been many controversies around streaming platforms and their impact on the music industry in recent years. Last year, for example, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sparked backlash for his comments relating to the cost of “creating content”, with countless users and musicians describing him as “out of touch”.

In part, the backlash related to the reports around the time that Spotify had made profits of over €1billion (£860m), following staff being laid off and subscription prices rising. It also came as Spotify officially demonetised all songs on the platform with less than 1,000 streams – making it harder for artists to generate royalties from their music and restricting new artists looking to crack the music industry.

More recently, Spotify divided opinion by hosting a brunch one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration and donating $150,000 (£122,000) to the official ceremony.

Elsewhere in Björk’s interview with Dagens Nyheter, she discussed the rise of concert films in recent years – including notable releases from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift – and recalled the common ground she thinks all three of them share.

“We are of course very different as artists. But for all three of us it’s probably less about ego and more about the community with the other musicians on stage and with the audience,” she said, reflecting on her decision to share the Cornucopia film.

“We are also artists where songwriting is the focus, where every song is driven by an emotion. All these nuances, from the sad to the ecstatic, probably translate better to those watching at home on the couch.”

The Cornucopia concert tour ran from May 2019 to December 2023, taking in North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. Based on Björk’s studio albums ‘Utopia’ (2017) and later incorporating ‘Fossora’ (2022), it was a music and theatre hybrid, featuring direction from the acclaimed Argentine filmmaker Lucretia Martel.

NME attended the show when it arrived in London in 2019, noting in a four-star review: “We should be thankful for an artist wild enough to take a show this audacious to a venue in which she’ll be followed, over the next two nights, by the more straightforwardly people-pleasing performances of McFly and Little Mix. This is a time where we all need to push it, to find new ways of being: like the lady herself sings in the show’s penultimate track: ‘Imagine a future and be in it’.”

NME also caught up with Björk in 2022, where the artist opened up about how she thinks the world is shaping up in this current decade. “I thought we’d be doing better with environmental things,” she said.

“Gen Z-ers are really radical, and I’m relieved that the environment is a priority for them – I’m up for it! When I read the news, most of it won’t matter in 20 years. The only thing that really matters is how we deal with the environment.”

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