Music artists are not too keen on these new types of “all-you-can-eat” services such as Spotify, Rdio, and consorts. One of the main topics of debate remains the distribution of royalties per played track, and more and more artists are considering to keep their new albums off Spotify completely. The latest artist to join this growing list is none other than Adele, who might be looking at other options to earn a fair share of revenue.

Also read: ZapChain Raises $350,000 in Seed Funding

No “25’ By Adele on Spotify Unless Things Change

For once, the debacle regarding whether or not Adele’s new album will appear on Spotify or not has nothing to do with royalties. Or to be more precise: Adele’s management demands that Spotify limits the availability of her album to paid subscribers only, which would make it accessible to less than one in three users on the platform.

At the time of publication, Spotify has rejected this idea, which could lead to the new Adele album never making it to the streaming service. Furthermore, the company stated how this entire story is “untrue”, although there is reasonable doubt regarding the validity of that statement.

There are two possible ways forward for Spotify in this scenario. Either the company changes the rules, and rakes in tons of revenue from featuring Adele’s new album on their service, even if it is to paid subscribers only. At the same time, that decision could end up alienating over 70% of Spotify users around the world, which would be hurting business far more.  

Unfortunately for Spotify, it wouldn’t be the first time this company misses out on featuring the biggest album of the year. Nor will it be the last time either, as Coldplay seemingly has no plans to put their new album on Spotify either. This could throw a major monkey wrench into the spokes of this overly popular music streaming service.

Using Bitcoin To Sell Albums Directly

Music artists have another option at their disposal to bring in additional revenue from their albums. By accepting Bitcoin payments in exchange for single tracks or full albums, artists can attract a whole new customer base around the world. Additionally, artists would be protected against any Bitcoin price volatility by exchanging the funds to fiat currency on the fly.

Famous hip-hop artist Talib Kweli recently announced how his new album is being sold for Bitcoin through the ZapChain platform. Artists will have to rethink their monetization strategies, and Bitcoin will play an important role in the future of the music industry.

Source: The Verge

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