Crosby’s suggestion that he “can’t work” is presumably a reference to the fact that the pandemic has wiped out any hope of live touring income for the singer/songwriter in 2020.
And his “I’m sure the others feel the same” line is presumably a reference to his CS&N bandmates, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.
Crosby’s claim that “streaming stole my record money”, however, requires no such presumption: the artist has been a long-time critic of the money paid out by the likes of Spotify to himself and other recording artists.
In August 2018, Crosby sarcastically tweeted: “Get your song played a million times and get less than $5. Seems fair.”
He did so alongside a set of numbers that were Crosby’s own calculations for what his music was earning in royalties, per-stream, from different digital services.
The highest average per-stream royalty rate at this time was $0.019 from Napster/Rhapsody, according to Crosby. The lowest average per-stream rates came from YouTube ($0.00069), Pandora ($0.00133), Amazon ($0.00402), and Spotify ($0.00437).
(Crosby didn’t precisely make clear what these royalty numbers referred to, but judging by the fact that $0.004 per stream roughly worked out as the payout from Spotify to master rights holders at this time, Crosby appears to have been referencing his recorded music royalty stream.)
Crosby’s biggest track as a band member on Spotify is Our House (1970) by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (i.e. Neil Young), with just over 75 million plays.
Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Helplessly Hoping (1969) comes in at No.2, with just over 73 million plays.
According to Crosby’s own per-stream Spotify estimate, 75 million plays would have generated a lifetime recorded music payout of around $300,000.
Yet both Our House and Helplessly Hoping appear on albums whose master rights are owned by Atlantic Records / Warner Music Group.
Crosby’s biggest streaming track as a solo artist is Music Is Love (1971) with just under 10 million plays on Spotify. The recorded music rights to that track are also owned by Atlantic/Warner.
When a fan tweeted “I hope you got the same deal Bob got!” earlier today in reference to the Dylan Universal buyout, Crosby replied: “Not a chance”.
And when another tweeted, “Aren’t you worth millions? Is this like Metallic[a] complaining about Napster?”, Crosby simply responded:
“I am not.”
Maybe he can get some money from Melissa Ethridge...
The guy is a a-hole. There is no question on that.
He did such beautiful harmonies, especially with Nash.
It's a shame his brilliant musical career ends on a spat. But that is how that is. Helplessly hoping
oldeconomybuyer posted an article about Crosby asking to pull his music catalog from Spotify.
He can't. He sold out to Irving Azoff's company.
So let's review his hypocrisy:
Crosby has already sold out to The Man, and did so under Trump to avoid the new Biden capital gains taxes;
Crosby no longer has any control over his own creations - and he voluntarily chose to do so - for the Almighty Dollar$
Per another poster from 2013 - Irving Azoff was behind the Eagles marketing/management. He also was at MCA Records when countless scams were run on the books and inventory to appear to have profit and chart success.
Nice. Sell out to the very ones who stole from you.
And then blame everyone else.
A mortgage, seriously?
drugs stole my brains so I let myself get ripped off
Once the late Leonard Cohen was told by an executive “You are one of the people at the top of the music industry but now there is no music industry.”
There used to be royalties paid when old songs were played on department store, restaurant and supermarket sound systems for instance. Then some groups of artists’ agents tried to track the money and found a tiny percent ever got to them.
The excuse “Well, even so, it’s good to get the exposure so fans will think about buying your CDs later.” Some agents sued but didn’t get very far.
That is why you SAVE when the riches are flowing like water, not spend it like there is no tomorrow. I have zero GAF’s for these guys.
You could always go back to prison, ya big dope.
Three hots and a cot!
82 years old in August, and he still has a mortgage.
Not the sharpest bulb in the drawer.
After about the 3rd new song, people started to boo loudly and they got it and went back to their good stuff.
Great group despite their left-leaning politics.
Now you understand the real reason they’re pissed at Spotify, and it has nothing to do with Joe Rogan.
An old singer, from an old band, whose fans aren’t into Spotify and aren’t filling venues to see him anymore.
One has to think why he would have a mortgage.
Jokingly but jealously a few years ago Keith Richards said of Bob Dylan: “Bob always finds ways to keep those revenue streams flowing his way. He is the Prophet of Profits.”
That actually happened after Albert Grossman cheated him out of millions by shady contracts from 1962-1970 that gave him 25% but actually a de facto 50% or more of his earnings. The hidden and visible sources of money went to Grossman unnoticed until a secretary offhandedly told Dylan and proved it with some file folders.
Grossman’s famous line to Dylan and others (Gordon Lightfoot, the Band, Todd Rundgren, Janis Joplin) was after he cheated the client they became 10% smarter than working for the other “dummy” managers by the learning experience.
Dylan spent over a decade in court obsessed with getting revenge against Grossman.
He’s getting more than he’s worth. Just shut up, Dave, and go die somewhere.
Not hearing a lot of love from the old hippies.
“There’s the fact that Joe Biden’s tax plans will – if they get through the US legislature – significantly raise capital gains tax for composers whose songs attract a sale price-tag over $1m.”
Who did you vote for David?
Another CSNY member in the news?
Nah, couldn't be the drugs. No, of course not.