Radiohead and Atoms for Peace frontman Thom Yorke has removed multiple albums from music streaming service Spotify citing unfair profits for artists. The Wall Street Journal reports that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has removed multiple albums from music streaming service Spotify citing unfair profits for artists. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yorke removed his solo album, "The Eraser," along with the Atoms for Peace ablum "Amok." Atoms for Peace keyboardist and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich also removed his own solo album, "Ultraísta."
The decision was announced by Godrich this morning via Twitter. The producer and musician tweeted, "The reason is that new artists get paid fuck all with this model. It's an equation that just doesn't work," adding that the model was 'bad for new music.'
Spotify responded to the news earlier today, stating that it has already paid $500 million to rightsholders and that this figure will reach $1 billion by the end of this year. Godrich commented on Spotify's statement, tweeting that because the money is divided up by percentage of total streams, it favors bigger companies with huge back catalogues.
Godrich described it as an act of small rebellion and called for change, implying that the three albums in question won't reappear on Spotify until something changes, though neither he nor Yorke specified that they would in fact be holding out for a change in policy.
