'Weird Al' Yankovic Condemns Spotify Payment Scheme In #SpotifyWrapped Thank You Video

Weird Al Yankovic (Instagram @alfredyankovic)

JAKARTA - Yankovic's "Weird Al" uses a #SpotifyWrapped thank you message to highlight what he sees as poor pay for artists by Spotify.

This streaming service launched the Wrapped 2023 edition on Wednesday, where users can find out what they've listened to the most over the past year.

Several artists made video messages sent to their top fans, but Yankovic used his opportunity to criticize the platform regarding its payment scheme.

"Listen, I'm going to do this very quickly," Yankovic said in the video.

I just want to thank you for your incredible support. In my understanding, I have more than 80 million streams on Spotify this year, so if my calculations are correct, that means I got 12 US dollars. Enough to buy me a delicious sandwich at the restaurant," he continued.

"So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support, and thank you for the sandwich."

The legend Weird Al criticizing what Spotify pays artists in the video he made FOR Spotify. 🐐🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/wASQunepBg

— Ray Padgett (@rayfp) November 29, 2023

The legendary Weird Al criticalizing what Spotify pays artists in the video he made FOR Spotify. pic.twitter.com/wASQunepBg

It is true, the platform made a controversial decision to change their royalty scheme earlier this year. The song will not start making money until it plays 1,000 times.

According to Spotify data, there are about 100 million songs in this service, but only about 37.5 million songs meet new requirements to generate revenue.

That is, about 60 percent of songs will not qualify for a new threshold, although Spotify remembers that the songs account for less than one percent of the total number of streams on the service.

In addition, labels and distributors will be penalized for sending content in charge of fake streaming. And finally, functional tracks, such as white noise or environmental voices, for example, will require longer minimum playback times than music tracks to get royalties.

Despite these changes, Spotify reports a third-quarter profit and better-than-expected subscriber gains.