n his Grammy night speech, Neil Portnow let loose on Spotify, decrying their failure to properly compensate artists for their music, but with the streaming service paying large portions of its revenue to artists and labels, and taking steps to make their business model more artist friendly, is Spotify helping more than hurting?

Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, does not believe that Spotify is out for anyone, but themselves. On Grammy night Portnow took to the stage to aim shots at music streaming services for making less-than lucrative deals with artists and musicians. Neil Portnow said, “Isn’t a song worth more then a penny?”

Spotify does not seem to agree; backing up that they are the leading music streaming service with over 30 million paying subscribers. The CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, shot right back saying, “Look, we pay the great majority of our revenue back to the music industry. And as we grow, that revenue is really making a difference. Many people don’t realize that the music industry was in decline throughout all the download years.” Ek is proclaiming that Spotify should be thanked, because they are responsible for the success of the music business industry. Ek said, “We are all in this together. Spotify is committed to the success of songwriters and producers.” Spotify does pay a large sum of their revenue to the record labels and artists. Though when the sum is divided the artists are not receiving what they want and deserve. This aspect of music streaming is why artists like Taylor Swift, Adele, Prince, and many more are pulling their music from Spotify.

Spotify is slowly making a few changes to their business model. Spotify is now letting artists release exclusive content on their paid tier, which in turn will cause Spotify to gain more revenue than their ad supported free tier. Ek doesn’t understand why artists and musicians are against Spotify. He only sees it from his own business standpoint. Mr. Ek doesn’t know the true value of music. It’s obvious that artists like Adele and Taylor Swift know their worth. Major labels should be ashamed that they even do business with Spotify and other music streaming services with the same business model.

Where has the music industry’s entrepreneur spirit gone? We have traded the risks for sure shot money. They would rather sit back and collect pennies instead of reaching their true potential. Ek says he is committed to the music industry, but the only person he is committed to is himself.