Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth: “I owe it to my brethren in metal and music not to have a fucking Spotify account”

Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth has criticised streaming platforms like Spotify, saying he “owes it” to other musicians not to have an account.

The frontman made the comments during a new interview with Sonic Perspectives, and explained how the shift to the digital age is making it harder for musicians to make a living from their music.

“I owe it to my brethren in metal and music not to have a fucking Spotify account because they don’t pay people. It’s not just them — it’s just platforms in general,” he began (via Blabbermouth).

“I appreciate the fact that people could discover you from another band and whatever; I’ve heard it a million times. But I’m old school… I want my bands to be paid because if they’re not paid, they’re not bands anymore,” he added, recalling the changes he had noticed. “I know so many people from big bands that since the pandemic have gone, ‘You know what? I’m taking a proper job. So you’ll see me less often. We’ll still be doing albums, but probably once every five years,’ because it just seems like daylight robbery.”

Filth continued, comparing it to people assuming they can take produce off the shelves at supermarkets without paying, then expecting the companies to make a profit. “People think they’re entitled to do [that] with music because it’s a periphery thing and it’s in the air. You can’t physically touch music. How do you expect bands to survive without that?”

The singer also addressed the common argument that music is getting bigger with each year, and that some pop stars now are reaching higher levels of success than any of their predecessors.

“Music is getting bigger and bigger, but that’s because the Taylor Swifts of the world and the Ed Sheerans – whom we’ve just done a song with – are everywhere,” he explained. “If you work at a building site and you’ve got the radio on, chances are you can hear one of those two or Beyoncé or Megan Thee Stallion within fucking five minutes of putting it on… It’s kind of a mind control because you adjusted to that. You remember those songs ’cause that’s all you hear.”

This isn’t the first time that the Cradle Of Filth frontman has spoken out about his views on streaming. Back in 2023, he explained the financial strain he has become aware of since platforms like Spotify began to take over.

Speaking with Rock Hard Greece, he said: “Spotify are the biggest criminals in the world. I think we had 25-26million plays last year, and I think personally I got about £20 pounds, which is less than an hourly work rate. The music industry is on its knees at the moment. I still enjoy making music — don’t get me wrong; I love it — but the musician nowadays is finding a million things against them. It’s a hard time.”

Similar comments were made by Björk earlier this year too, when the singer spoke about her plans for the future and claimed that the streaming app is “probably the worst thing” to happen to music.

“The live part is, and always will be, a big part of what I do. But I’m lucky because I no longer have to raise money on touring, which younger musicians are often forced to do,” she explained. “In that respect, Spotify is probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians. The streaming culture has changed an entire society and an entire generation of artists.”

Back in 2015 the singer made a similar point, saying that her decision to not release her album ‘Vulnicura’ on Spotify was made out of “respect” principles.

Another to speak out about the struggle that comes with the rise of streaming was Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, who last November described streaming as the place “where music goes to die”.

“Subconsciously this may be the reason why we don’t make records every three years or whatever, because I don’t want to give it away for free,” he said. “It is basically stealing. It is stealing from the artist – the people who run music streaming sites like Spotify. I don’t subscribe to Spotify. I think it is where music goes to die.”

In recent years, people have been divided about streaming platforms and their impact on the music industry. In 2024, for example, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sparked backlash for his comments relating to the cost of “creating content”, with countless users and musicians describing him as “out of touch”.

The negative response to this was heightened as, around the same time, it was confirmed that Spotify had made profits of over €1billion (£860m), following staff being laid off and subscription prices rising.

The streaming platform also received criticism after it officially demonetised all songs on the platform with less than 1,000 streams – making it harder for artists to generate royalties from their music and restricting new artists looking to crack the music industry.

In more recent times though,Spotify divided users by hosting a brunch one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration and donating $150,000 (£122,000) to the official ceremony.

As for other Cradle Of Filth news, the band are set to release their 14th album ‘The Screaming Of The Valkyries’ on March 21 via Napalm.

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