Without Spotify: Young and Mitchell Miss Out On Thousands

Neil Young, Joni Mitchell

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell‘s decisions to pull their music from Spotify this week come at a real cost — hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each of them that’s unlikely to be made up elsewhere.

Until Wednesday, when Spotify announced it was complying with Young’s demand to remove his catalog, the streaming platform accounted for about 43% of Young’s global streaming revenue, Billboard estimates. (While Young claimed Spotify plays were 60% of his worldwide streaming income, that percentage is most likely his global plays and royalties would be less since Spotify pays less on average per stream than many of its competitors.) 

At an estimated $2.8 million in streaming royalties last year, that means Young’s decision will forego about $1.2 million each year for him and his label, Warner Music/Reprise. Of that, Young likely received half — $600,000 — under terms of a standard heritage contract. Overall, Spotify streams accounted for about 14% of Young’s total solo sales and streams recording revenue, which Billboard estimates at almost $8.46 million last year.

For Young, personally, the decision to pull his music from Spotify will cost him about $754,000 annually, by Billboard‘s calculations.

Mitchell’s personal annual loss, based on her catalog’s performance for 2021, would be about $257,000 in total artist and publishing royalties, Billboard estimates.