✨Yet another reason why Decentralized music is the best space for independent artists like me ✨:

One morning I woke up to an unsettling email from my distribuor, "We've been notified by Spotify that they've removed your release due to artificial streaming: 'Never Knew'...We haven't been given any additional information...and have no way to help or appeal Spotify's decision. Sorry for any inconvenience this caused..."

I quickly opened Spotify and sure enough my single "Never Knew" was gone - No clear path for appeal nor an explanation as to what playlist was the culprit.

As an independent artist, I have to use third party playlist curators to promote releases on major streaming platforms. I've only used SubmitHub and Groover, which are supposed to be sanctioned by Spotify because I submit songs for consideration Not for guaranteed placement - spending money just to be heard. But that effort has gotten my music taken down without any information to avoid a possible infringement on these veiled guidelines in the future. I am fortunate that "Never Knew" was also featured on my EP, so it has not been completely removed from the platform, but what does this mean for my singles not apart of a dedicated album? Would they have been erased?

The whole experience would have left me feeling powerless and defeated if I didn't know about #v4vmusic 🙏 Thanks to the #nostr community and #v4v platforms like nostr:nprofile1qqszy58kj62v9fpe98nhuh0q76np4e0r0g0wd44rhth3wphdnyqjfzcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwvd6hyun9de6zuenedyq3yamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwccxctnfduyrnr5s independent artists, like me, finally have a space to be heard, to grow and have true autonomy over our art. 💚

https://wavlake.com/track/97e522d3-3a49-42cd-a58e-787e27dcaf3d

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Discussion

Have you tried Tidal?

Hi! My music is on Tidal though my distributor. Is there a way to independently post music on Tidal?

Being on a platform like Wavlake is actually centralized music, the opposite of #DeMu decentralized music, but there are lots of people who'd love to teach you to build your own RSS feed and self-host your tracks, myself included! There are also services like RSS Blue and Music Side Project that take all the work out of it. But for the DIYers out there:

https://github.com/de-mu/demu-feed-template/blob/master/feed-with-comments.xml

Thank you! This is why I love Nostr to open covesations and learn from each other 💚

I guess the pitch for wavlake as an artist is that it sets the up for you? But I agree it's odd. It seems a bit one step forward two steps back.

I was disappointed to learn it's also just serving mp3 quality and you can download the track pretty easily.

Damn sorry to read that, fucking sucks. I nearly had an issue with a release due to YT saying there were uncleared samples of which there were none. Fortunately the argument was at the aggregator level but it still caused me a wasted day fighting the case.

I hope you can pick up some traction on Wavlake or Bandcamp.

I no longer put any work on the other streaming platforms, fuck them.

Best of luck x

Thank you so much! Best of luck to you too. So grateful there are other avenues for us now 🙏

How do you get on with Bandcamp? That’s still by far our best revenue stream.

That's great you are doing well on Bandcamp! I have not gained much traction on there thusfar. Best engagement I've had is through #v4v

Part of the reason we do ok on Bandcamp is I’ve been on the Fediverse (Mastodon mainly) since 2019 and there’s a strong Bandcamp culture there.

I no longer release on Spotify and at gigs I specifically say to the audience if they like what we do and want to support, either buy physical direct from us or buy from Bandcamp. Telling them directly usually brings in a few sales.

Asking people at gigs to visit Spotify is bollocks, if people like you, they can find you. Telling them to use Spotify only creates free advertising for a platform that shows us zero respect!

Also fuck Daniel Elk, he’s not even a real Elk.

He who uses Lightning controls the universe. The zaps must flow.

nostr:note17dq7c78klaexe2zu8egqcky7gutqkpjtr89uufh2p0azy6tfzaaqp4kaap

🫣 what the ....?! I'm sorry to hear that 😔 though I'm not very surprised seeing such stuff coming from Spotify. Overall, with them or others, entrusting the fruits of our labor to third parties, esp that huge/giant corporations, can often have similar consequences. Great that there's Nostr, and I believe that, as a protocol, it will also help creators in so many ways. Additionally, I'd recommend checking out Flash (https://paywithflash.com/). Many of its options make a great additional method for monetizing creative work, from paywalls or payment links to subscriptions.

Awesome thank you for the tip! Yes, Nostr has been such a welcoming community and great space for me to connect with fans and other creatives. Love #v4v

Couldn't agree more 💜🤝 g'day, happy Monday

Awesome let's see this decentralized music if yours.

*of

20:58 SUN 14 JUL 2024

I have “Liked” “Never Knew” on Spotify, hoping this helps you (and to signify that I that I love the sentiment, soul, and beauty evoked by this wonderful expression of your art!

Thanks, also, for bringing “#v4vmusic” and “@wavlake” to my attention!

Thank you so much!

Hi! Thanks for looking me up :) Yes, as I mentioned, I am fortunate that it was also on my EP that I released in January, so the song wasn't completely erased. But the single, which was released in November of last year, was removed this June. Leaves me to wonder what would have happened had it been a sinlge that I hadn't also released in an album- like "Wait Destiny"? would it have been completely erased?

no info from Spotify as to what playlist I should avoid in the future to make sure this doesn't happen again with another track

Decentralized music is a good term DeMu

We can fix the music industry. It will take a lot of time and a lot of sats, but we'll do it.

awesome

You rock!

I'm newish to nostr and Bitcoin. I never considered decentralized music and what that means for artists. I love that this was brought to my awareness. I'm all about sending my coin directly to the creators that I want to support ❤️