Nikki Sixx Joins Spotify Debate; Addresses 'Pink Elephant' In The Room

Many artists have sounded off on the Spotify debate that was more or less engendered by Taylor Swift's decision to pull her entire music catalog from the streaming service.

But Nikki Sixx (of Sixx A.M.) says we're going about it all wrong in a new Facebook post.

Any smart artist should know how to use the internet just like Bono, Taylor Swift and Dave Grohl are right now but that being said the pink elephant in the room is that YouTube is playing all of their music and they aren't getting paid for it. They are making even less money from YouTube than Spotify so let's not just target Spotify here.

He focused on the idea of "breakage," and wondered why more people don't talk about it.

A big unaddressed issue (and more important in my opinion) is that artists aren't getting paid because of a term called "BREAKAGE". That's where the record companies have equity or take advances from the different streaming companies and never recoup them. Thus, never paying the Bono's, Taylor's, Dave's and many, many, more. These artists should really be talking about that. But I think they may not know or are afraid that their labels (or distribution companies) won't promote them if the tell that "dirty little secret."

There's also the issue of new artists who could potentially drown in the financially-unfriendly system.

Also what are we doing to help new artists? We were all new artists once too. We've been around long enough that we should be addressing these issues to help new artists; exposing the things that are more than just roadblocks, the things that are actually sinkholes.

Sixx recently announced a headlining world tour, the first of Sixx A.M.'s tenure.

"For three records now we have been envisioning what a Sixx:A.M. headline tour would look and feel like," singer James Michael said. "We are so excited to finally be bringing these songs to life."

Added DJ Ashba: "Over the years we feel we have taken our fans on some pretty incredible and diverse musical journeys. However, they have only been able to experience half of our vision. For the first time we are going to present a visual journey to go along with the music. This tour will be something you won't want to miss. This will be the ultimate Sixx:A.M. Experience."

Tags

Nikki Sixx, Spotify