Who's behind each music distribution platform?

When you decide where to publish your music, you’re making decisions that go beyond visibility. You’re choosing who gets your fans’ money, who holds your data, what interests sit behind the platform presenting your project.

For many artists, ethics are part of their value system. Here’s the information to decide with open eyes.

Quick comparison table

Tech barrier key: None = upload via web · Low = account + form · Medium = server or config · High = full self-hosting

Who owns the main platforms

Spotify

Founded in Sweden in 2006, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SPOT). Founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon retain voting control: Ek holds 30.5% of voting rights, Lorentzon 42.7%. Among notable shareholders: Tencent Music Entertainment — the music arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent — holds 8.4% of shares.

→ Who owns Spotify in 2024 — Music Business Worldwide

Apple Music

Owned entirely by Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California). Fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem. No free tier — it’s subscription-only.

Amazon Music

Owned by Amazon (Seattle, Washington). Amazon Music is bundled with Amazon Prime, giving it a captive user base that didn’t necessarily choose it for the music. Part of the same company as AWS, Alexa, Ring and the largest e-commerce platform in the West.

YouTube Music

Owned by Alphabet Inc. (Google’s holding company, Mountain View, California). YouTube is the world’s largest music distribution platform by user count, and YouTube Music is its premium layer. Free YouTube is, in practice, the most-used music streaming service globally.

Tidal

Founded in 2014 by Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), who bought it for $56 million. In 2021, Block Inc. (Jack Dorsey’s company, co-founder of Twitter) acquired majority control (~80%) for around $300 million. In November 2024, Block announced it was scaling back its Tidal investment.

→ Block scales back Tidal investment — TechCrunch

Bandcamp: the fall of a reference point

Bandcamp was, from its founding in 2008, the platform most aligned with independent music values: no algorithms, transparent commissions, direct artist-to-fan sales.

In March 2022, Epic Games (the company behind Fortnite) acquired Bandcamp. In September 2023, Epic sold it to Songtradr, a music licensing platform, while laying off 16% of its own global workforce. In October 2023, Songtradr laid off approximately half of Bandcamp’s staff, including every member of the Bandcamp United union bargaining committee. The union filed an unfair labour practice lawsuit.

Bandcamp still operates, but its trajectory illustrates precisely why you can’t build your digital presence on someone else’s platform.

→ Epic Games eliminating 16% of workforce and selling Bandcamp — CNBC
→ Bandcamp Songtradr acquisition leads to layoffs and lawsuit — Music Business Journal

What a musician actually earns per stream

The streaming royalty reality is harsh. 2024 figures:

To earn €1,000 on Spotify you need between 200,000 and 350,000 streams.

Apple Music pays approximately double Spotify’s per-stream rate, but Spotify generates far more total listening volume through its free tier.

→ Apple Music per-stream royalty rate is double Spotify’s — Digital Music News

Artists who said enough

Thom Yorke / Atoms for Peace (2013)

The first major gesture against Spotify. Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich removed the Atoms for Peace album AMOK from Spotify. Godrich’s explanation: “New artists get paid f* all with this model.”** Yorke added that while Spotify shareholders got rich, emerging artists earned nothing.

→ Radiohead’s Thom Yorke pulls music from Spotify in protest — Variety

Taylor Swift (2014)

In November 2014, Swift removed her entire catalogue from Spotify. Her argument: “Music is art, and art has value. Valuable things should be paid for.” She criticised Spotify’s free tier for giving away music without adequately compensating artists. She returned to the platform in 2017.

→ Why Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify — TIME

Neil Young (January 2022)

Young demanded his label remove all his music from Spotify in protest at vaccine misinformation spread by the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, distributed exclusively via Spotify. “It’s Rogan or me,” he said. Spotify chose Rogan.

→ Joni Mitchell joins Neil Young in protest against Spotify — NPR

Joni Mitchell (February 2022)

In solidarity with Neil Young, Mitchell removed all her music from Spotify. She stated: “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.”

→ Joni Mitchell pulls her music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation — TechCrunch

How to choose with a clear conscience

There’s no single right answer. But here are some questions to guide your decision:

On royalties: Do you want to maximise earnings per stream, or maximise listening volume? If your audience is small but dedicated, Apple Music or Tidal pay better per stream. If your goal is reaching as many people as possible, Spotify has the volume.

On ownership: Are you comfortable with a Chinese company (Tencent) holding a stake in the platform distributing your music? Does it matter that the platform is publicly traded and its decisions are driven by stock market performance?

On values: If your artistic project has a political or ideological dimension, the platform you choose is part of the message. Publishing on Amazon Music while critiquing platform capitalism is a contradiction your audience may notice.

On distribution: No distributor forces you to be on every platform. You can choose. DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby all let you select where you distribute.

What doesn’t change

Whatever platform you choose, sovereignty over your data and your direct relationship with your audience will always be yours if you have your own website and a mailing list. Platforms change ownership, cut royalties, drop features or shut down. Your own domain doesn’t.

Read also: Distributing music without platforms · Bandcamp: different but not perfect · Distribution at concerts without CDs

At Ressona we help artists build a digital presence with their own foundation and make informed decisions about which platforms and tools actually serve them. Get in touch.