At the end of 2023, artists, labels, aggregators, industry associations and, last but not least, subscribers were still sharply critical of changes announced by streaming service Spotify. 1,000-stream threshold in particular, according to which the platform will no longer pay out remuneration for tracks that fall below the threshold, made waves within the industry. According to the new regulation, tracks that have reached less than 1,000 streams and/or less than 50 unique users in 12 months will not be remunerated.

Most Spotify users are unaware of the consequences of the threshold for artists and their partners. There seems to be a widespread view that artists who do not reach 1,000 streams with their songs are of no interest to anyone anyway and are not musicians to be taken seriously. However, the damage caused by the threshold is immense for a whole range of market participants: According to a report by US analyst Luminate, a total of 158.6 million tracks reached just 1,000 or fewer streams on audio streaming services in 2023, representing a remarkable 86.2% of the music tracks covered.

Music outside the mainstream and niches, such as industrial, jazz, folk or classical music, but also newcomers of all genres are particularly affected.

What do those affected think, what are their reactions and alternatives?