Music fans love Spotify, as they’ve made it the most-used music streaming platform in the world. Artists, though, often have mixed feelings about it, mostly due to the platform’s often-criticized payment rates. Now, Drake has come up with an idea to inspire other artists on the streaming front.
In an Instagram Story posted last night (February 1), Drake shared a news story about being the first artist to pass 75 billion streams on the platform. He also wrote, “We should get bonuses like athletes to motivate the future artists to be consistent and competitive…so feel free to send me a Lebron sized cheque I have enough dinner plates [crying laughing emoji] [heart emoji] @spotify.”
That’s certainly an idea. While Drake would certainly benefit from an arrangement like that since he’s one of the platform’s most successful artists, it’s hard to envision a world where rolling out a system like what he described wouldn’t lead to backlash from smaller artists, sitting on the sidelines as they watch the rich get richer.
Indeed, Spotify has helped make Drake rich: In 2021, it was estimated that Drake had earned over $52 million in Spotify royalties thanks to 21.5 billion streams. Given that he has many more plays than that now, he’s likely earned much more than that estimate.