“Thanks for the sandwich”: The musician denounces the streaming service’s payment model.
“Weird Al” Yankovic used his thank you message as part of “Spotify Wrapped” to extensively criticize what he saw as Spotify’s inadequate payment model.
Artists were able to thank fans via video messages
The streaming service released its 2023 annual review on Wednesday (November 29), where users can see what they really listened to most in the past year. This year, artists had the opportunity to record video messages for their fans and thank them for the many streaming views. However, Yankovic took this opportunity to complain about the platform’s payment model.
“Thanks for the sandwich”
“Weird Al” Yankovic tells viewers in the video: “I just want to thank you all for your fantastic support. I was informed that I had over 80 million streams on Spotify this year. If I calculate this correctly, that means I made $12. Enough to treat myself to a nice sandwich at a restaurant. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support and thank you for the sandwich.” The clip was also shared on X, you can see it here:
Spotify’s new licensing model
In fact, the streaming service made the controversial decision to change its licensing model this year. Songs only make money when they are streamed 1,000 times. According to Spotify data, there are about 100 million songs on the platform, but only about 37.5 million meet the new requirements to generate revenue. This means that around 60 percent of titles will not meet the new threshold. However, Spotify emphasized that these songs represent less than one percent of the total number of streams on the platform.
On November 29th, for Spotify Wrapped, many artists – including The Hives, Linkin Park and LS Dunes – shared their own stats on social media, thanking fans for listening throughout the year.