Spotify on the spot

I wonder how annoyed Thom Yorke is at the fact that his stand against Spotify drew relatively little reaction last year, whereas Taylor Swift's decision to remove all of her music from the site prompted CEO Daniel Ek into hasty action, posting a lengthy defence of their business model. With YouTube's new subscription service about to be launched, the reason for Spotify's desperation to ensure damage limitation is obvious.

While Ek's argument does seem fairly cogent, Swift's record label have hit back by disputing the figures. What's more, just because Spotify remunerates (or claims to remunerate) artists better than radio and other streaming services doesn't necessarily mean their rates are fair - just that they're not quite as outrageously stingy.