What Next: TBD | Why Bands Are Leaving Spotify

Slate Culture

Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Paying a fraction of a penny per stream and diminishing the value of music were bad enough for Xiu Xiu, but when Spotify owner Daniel Ek announced an investment in a German defense contractor, they decided it was time to take the music back. Guest: Jamie Stewart, musician in the band Xiu Xiu. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You subscribe to music, TV, your gym, maybe even your weekly flowers, so why not your car?
0:06.0	A pivotal car subscription comes with serious horsepower.
0:09.4	One simple monthly payment puts you behind the wheel of a range rover or defender,
0:13.7	with everything from insurance to servicing taken care of.
0:16.8	No long-term commitments, no complications.
0:19.5	Experience exceptional driving without the hassle of ownership or leasing with Pivotal
0:23.9	car subscription.
0:25.2	Subscribe to smarter driving.
0:26.9	Find out more at drivepivotal.com slash radio.
0:34.1	Why don't you just introduce yourself?
0:36.6	Tell me who you are and what you do.
0:38.7	Ahoy. My name is Jamie Stewart. I play in the band Shushu.
0:56.4	One of the is there plenty enough to cave your head in?
1:00.0	One of the coolest things I get to do on this show is talk to people whose lives and work butt up against technological change.
1:05.3	One place where that's happening a lot is the music industry.
1:09.3	How long have you been making music with Shushu?
1:11.6	That makes me want to throw up every time I say it, but 22 years.
1:16.6	Wow.
1:18.6	Yes, I feel the same.
1:20.6	How's the music business changed in that period of time?
1:25.6	Because those 22 years are like a really significant couple of decades in the way music reaches listeners' ears.
1:36.3	Yeah, that is true. It's been two decades of musicians basically at war with the greed of tech companies.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.