With her bid to save grassroots venues, and openly funding tours via OnlyFans, Kate Nash has become a mouthpiece for working-class musicians in the UK. Now, she’s calling out Spotify, accusing it of low streaming payouts.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour, Nash discusses what she deems her low Spotify royalties. “Foundations has over 100 million plays on Spotify,” she says. “I am shocked I’m not a millionaire when I hear that! I am shocked at the state of the music industry and how the industry has allowed this to happen.”
“We’re paid very, very, very poorly and unethically for our recorded music,” Nash claims. “It’s like 0.003 of a penny per stream. I think we should not only be paid fairly but we should be paid very well – people love music and it’s a growing economy. There are plenty of millionaires in the industry because of us, and our music.”
A string of artists have been accusing Spotify of low payouts as of late. James Blake and Snoop Dogg have even taken things a step further, with both artists migrating to different streaming platforms in an attempt to earn more from their music.
In Kate Nash’s opinion, the royalty system hinders working-class musicians before they can get the ball rolling. “[Spotify are saying] ‘You’re not welcome here, you can’t do this, we don’t want to hear from you,’” she says. “It’s not possible to even imagine having a career if you don’t have a privileged background or a privileged situation right now!”
A response from Spotify to Kate’s comments, read by host Nuala McGovern during Women’s Hour, reads: “We’re huge fans of Kate Nash. For streams of her track Foundations alone – which was released before Spotify existed – Spotify has paid out around half a million pounds in revenue to Kate Nash’s rights holders.”
The company seems to imply that the issue at hand is with Nash’s record label, rather than its royalty system. “Her most streamed songs were released via Universal Music Group,” it notes. “Spotify has no visibility over the deals that Kate signed with her rights’ holders. Therefore, we have no knowledge of the payment terms that were agreed upon between her and her partners.
“We do know that British artists generated revenues of over £750 million on Spotify alone in 2023, a number that is on the rise year on year. So it’s disappointing to hear that Spotify’s payments are not making it through to Kate herself.”
After the radio show, Nash reflected on Spotify’s response in an Instagram story. “This is great,” she wrote. “I knew I was getting to them! I’m so happy. It’s such a good feeling.”
