The Black Keys admit opposing Spotify “definitely hurt us in the long run”
In an exclusive interview with Far Out, The Black Keys reflected on their opposition to Spotify and admitted their strong stance “definitely hurt us in the long run”.
Since forming in the early 2000s, The Black Keys have witnessed the music industry become a different beast from the one they entered more than two decades ago. One of the most notable changes is the change in listening habits. Fans now have every new release available at their fingertips every Friday, and while vinyl has made somewhat of a comeback, streaming platforms hold all of the cards.
In 2011, The Black Keys chose not to share El Camino on streaming platforms such as Spotify, which, at the time, had only two-and-a-half million paying subscribers worldwide. That latter figure now stands at 276 million, and by 2014, when The Black Keys released Turn Blue, it had risen to 15 million.
Despite Spotify’s growing power, The Black Keys stood firm and chose to only release singles from Turn Blue on the service. In December 2016, they finally put the two records on Spotify with drummer Patrick Carney posting on social media, “After five years of struggling with this we agreed to put the keys songs on Spotify,” and “I’d rather people hear our music than not.”
Reflecting on the saga in a new interview with Far Out, Carney conceded, “We were out there being vocal about it, and then what happened is there was no alternative, if you wanted your music to be heard by kids who don’t buy records,” before adding, “It definitely hurt us in the long run.” Frontman Dan Auerbach also said, “Taking a stand definitely hurt us.”
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Carney said they were “hoping other people” would follow their lead, and doesn’t regret taking a strong stance against services like Spotify, defiantly stating, “I regret other people not (taking a stance).”
While they both use streaming, Carney maintains there’s “a definite way to make it pay fairly”. The Black Keys boast over nine million unique monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and Carney knows “it definitely affects artists smaller than us more than it affects us”.
Additionally, Carney doesn’t believe Spotify’s greed is responsible for the unfair payment system, sharing, “I think they’re legitimately paying lots and lots of money out to labels, and I just don’t know how that’s being allocated.”
The Black Keys’ new album, No Rain, No Flowers, arrived on all platforms on August 8th, and the rock duo are Far Out’s cover stars for August. Visit here to read the full interview.
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