Los Angeles, Jan 30 (IANS): A mysterious image reading 'Delete Spotify' appeared on the homepage of the '90s alt-rock band Belly, on Spotify's desktop version, not on phones, reports 'Variety'.
The social media accounts of the alt-rock band tell that they're particularly not the fans of the audio streaming giant, Spotify's payment policies or its stance on Joe Rogan, as per 'Variety'.
Most recently, Belly had tweeted: "Strictly from a business standpoint: Heinous enough that @Spotify doesn't pay its artists but to use that revenue to fund Covid disinfo thereby prolonging the pandemic which has kept all of us from touring income makes it even more obvious #cancelspotify + #maskup #GetVaccinated"
While usually record labels hold the rights to the catalogue or musical artwork, artists often can control the imagery that goes with their pages on the platform through the 'Spotify for Artists portal'.
It is most likely that a representative for the band uploaded the image independently of the rights holder. That is why the image in question appears only on desktops and not on phones.
As for the band, they mentioned in their recent Facebook post that they're trying to remove its music from the platform, but the process is "difficult" and "very complicated".
The post read: "There are many ways to listen to our music. If you can find a way to avoid supporting a platform like Spotify, we say 'noice job!' Originally Spotiify just hosted content, now they have moved into paying for exclusivity. They are making harmful choices. It's not about taste, it's about truth."
It continued: "Chaos and crisis can be a very profitable environment. Some find ways to mine this environment and seek to prolong it to their own ends. This hurts the world. Hurting the world sucks. Why are we still 'on' Spotify if we don't like them? It's very complicated."
The post concluded: "Once you are in it is hard to get out. We are looking at options, but you will see that there are many who oppose spotify policies who are still there, an indicator of just how difficult it is."