Spotify’s Daniel Ek: killing the golden goose, one download at a time| Rebecca Nicholson

The streaming site’s boss is deaf to the creative process when he complains that artists are too slow with their talent

After reading a recent interview with Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, which had a “how to lose friends and alienate people” approach to public communications, I tried to unravel the economics of how on earth musicians are supposed to manage on the royalties that streaming services send their way.

I found myself so tangled up in tiny percentages and splits that I gave up and reached for the nearest soothing Chillout playlist. Ek, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $4bn (£3bn), gave a surprisingly honest interview to the website Music Ally, in which he framed critics as the old guard, ill at ease with the inevitable new way.