John Butler: 'Streaming Is A Complete Scam'

John Butler has just released his “healing” new album, Running River – his first release since the John Butler Trio’s 2018 LP Home, and his first solo album in 12 years.

As an independent artist currently using streaming services to promote a new record, he’s responded firsthand to having his music on streaming, calling it a “complete scam.”

In an interview with ABC Listen (as part of the Breakfast program in Perth), Butler said, “If you’re not on it, no one gets to hear you, and if you are on it, you are getting .003 of a dollar, which is less than a cent. And now, if you’re getting less than a thousand spins a month [on Spotify], they won’t pay you anything at all.

“The reason why it works for those companies and the record companies, and the major labels is because, like any gambling system, when you're betting on 80 per cent of the bets at any one time, and you own 90 per cent of the world's catalogue, of course, you're going to make money,” he continued. “But the artists and songwriters don’t. It [streaming] is a complete scam that definitely needs to be addressed.”

Adding that he’s the first to admit when he doesn’t understand new technology, Butler claimed that the music industry has always been behind when it comes to new trends, from cassettes to streaming, even now when record companies and streaming services “are making millions and billions off artists.”

He then encouraged a new system – a “blockchain” – in which for every stream an artist receives, money should go to their bank account. Butler added that the blockchain system is an idea supported by British musician and songwriter Imogen Heap.

John Butler’s new album, Running River, has been described as a “balm” for the busy, noisy, modern world. The Aussie legend intentionally released a “slow” record that gives people “a bit of relief from the fray and the onslaught of real life.”

In a cover story with The Music, Butler said of his new album: “Music has always been a very cathartic thing for me – I use art to heal and to understand and interface with the world – and this was just a new way for me to be able to do that.”

You can read the interview here.