AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO MY FANS

 The people running the streaming platform Spotify have decided to stop paying royalties to artists for tracks that accumulate fewer than 1,000 streams over the preceding 12 months.  This policy change affects some 86% of the tracks on Spotify and the independent artists who created them, as well as the distributors who serve these artists.

(Read Spotify's new policy here.)

Rather than remove these tracks, Spotify intends to keep them available for the public to play and enjoy, thus contributing to Spotify's profit margin.  They simply won't pay the creators of these tracks for this use of their work.

The amount of royalty money involved is not the issue for me so much as the idea that Spotify has decided that they are entitled to make money from my work but that I am not entitled to receive compensation for their doing so.

For this reason, I am initiating the process of removing my tracks from Spotify beginning today.

My music will, however, remain available on all other streaming platforms such as Pandora, Deezer, Apple Music, Amazon, etc., as well as on my Patreon channel (https://www.patreon.com/ThomasHallstenPaine) and in my Patreon Shop (https://www.patreon.com/ThomasHallstenPaine/shop).

I regret any inconvenience this action may cause you and hope for your understanding and continuing support.

Thank you for being a fan of my work.