Boyz II Men star slams streaming services for ‘robbing’ artists and reveals he refuses to use them
The chart-topping group’s have generated millions of streams on music platforms - in spite of not using any streaming services themselves
MULTI-PLATINUM R&B group member Boyz II Men, Nathan Morris, is not too fond of streaming services as he believes they are of no benefit to artists today.
The 90s hitmaker, 52, told The Sun he does not agree with the current business model of music streaming platforms, before revealing he does not use any music platforms to listen to music.
The R&B legend said: “The way the streaming services are set up is terrible. It’s a legal way to rob the artist. Music platforms tell you how much your album will need to sell for. You as the artist do not have a choice.”
He continued: “These platforms give whatever they want to the artist. I personally don’t own Spotify, Apple music or any music streaming service. If I did, I’d be robbing myself.”
The Grammy-award winner prefers to buy physical albums as opposed to streaming music.
He added: “I’ll buy an actual album, I’ll pay the money. There’s hardly a cost benefit to the artist with streaming. Apple Music charges a membership of like £10.99 per month. There’s no way that they can pay all the artists and everybody involved on that price.”
Streams refer to the total number of times a track or album has been played.
Streaming giants Spotify pay artists between $0.003 – $0.005 (£0.0039) per 1 stream on average, if a song receives under 1,000 streams.
If a song reaches 1,000 streams or more, an artist could receive between $3-$4 per stream.
Millions of songs fall below 1,000 streams, leaving many artists, especially new artists who fall under Spotify’s 1,000 streams payment threshold, unable to receive payment royalties.
Nathan joins a long list of top artists such as Taylor Swift, 35, Snoop Dogg, 52 and British singer James Blake, 35, who have previously hit out at music streaming platforms for payment percentages.
Rap Mogul Jay-Z, 54, launched artist-friendly streaming service Tidal back in January 2015, in an effort to better compensate and pay artists for their work.
The Brooklyn-native sold the majority of his stake in the artist-owned music platform, to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2017.
Boyz II Men have sold an outstanding 64 million albums worldwide, making them the best selling R&B group of all time.
Their music catalogue includes smash hit singles such End Of The Road, ‘One Sweet Day and I’ll Make Love To You.
The group’s 1991 hit End Of The Road is the influential band’s most streamed song on Spotify, with over 303 million streams globally.
Boyz II Men will be embarking on their first UK headline tour in 6 years, this April. The trio will make their first stop in London’s OVO Arena Wembley on the 19th and the 20th of April.
The chart-toppers will be performing at Manchester’s BEC Arena on April 21st, before ending their UK visit in Birmingham’s 02 Academy on April 24th.
