May have to pay more money to the artists perhaps, and they’d rather pay as little as possible.
Possibly, Spotify are in negotiations with the various record companies, and they’re trying to cut the royalties they pay even more; seeing as the amount is already risible, they might as well come out and say they’re going to stream music and pay nothing at all, it’ll amount to the same.
Spotify don’t even pay the artists, they pay an amount to each record company, who then divvy it out among the various artists; and I’ll bet the companies take a cut for ‘administrative’ purposes as well.
Spotify only benefits the already extremely popular, if an Indy or folk artist has an album on Spotify, and one track gets a million and a half streams, but the rest get ignored, then that’s about £1000-1500, not even a living wage, but major artists might get every track being streamed a million or so times, that’s £10,000: the whole system is totally skewed in favour of the already wealthy.
That Indy or folk artist, selling cd’s at gigs, might sell ten or twenty at each gig, maybe 1000 or so over a ten date tour, at £10 a pop, that’s £10-20,000 in their pockets, minus other expenses.
Spotify’s entire business model is unethical, the sooner they go bust, the better.