Salvador Sobral returns to Spotify: “That’s right, ass between legs”

“I’m going back to Spotify. I've been getting a lot of messages every day from people who are sorry I can't hear my music. I need to get to people, and unfortunately Spotify still completely monopolizes the music listening industry. I have to sell tickets [for concerts]. Okay, this is my life”, says Salvador Sobral, in a video shared today in his official accounts on social networks.

In February this year, Salvador Sobral withdrew all of Spotify’s albums – “the streaming platform that pays the authors the worst” and promotes music created by AI – aware that the decision could be detrimental to their career.

Today, she shared that she considers that platform “a Goliath too strong to face alone.”.

“ I thought utopianly that I could appeal to be a collective boycott of colleagues, musicians, audiences. But I went with everything and when I looked back there was no one”, said, stressing that its principles and the reasons for having removed its music “continues the same”.

“ It doesn't change anything, it hasn't changed anything. I will continue to boycott, of course, as a user. I'll use the Qobuz I like so much. But my music will return to Spotify ", said.

According to the musician, the single “The flower of the new beginning”, the advance of the new album of the musician, with the same name, with edition scheduled for October, “will also be in Spotify”.

“The record that is coming too. So, ass between legs, ball forward and back to Spotify ", that's it.

In February, in an interview with Lusa, the musician shared that there were reasons for making the decision that many people warned him not to take and that he was aware that it could be “a shot in the foot” in his career, since “ninety-one percent” of his listeners are on that platform.

“ But I prefer a shot in the foot of my career than a shot in the head of a person indirectly linked to my music”, he said at the time.

On the basis of everything is the fact that the “most popular, best known platform in the world and with more subscribers” is “the one that pays the worst to the authors”.

“ We are talking about 0.003 cents [by hearing], which is absolutely ridiculous. But we played this game of tyranny and nobody talks and we were all at Spotify happy to announce our ‘wrapped’, but they were hoarding things”, said on the same occasion.

The investment made by the executive director, and co-founder, of the platform, Daniel Ek, in the European company specializing in artificial defense intelligence Helsing and that, for the musician, makes the music that is there “is funding the business of death”, was another reason to decide to withdraw the albums. “I don’t want to be associated with this,” he said.

Daniel Ek's investment in Helsing, made through the Prima Materia risk pickup company that he founded himself, also led, for example, the British Massive Attack to withdraw every catalogue from Spotify's band in September last year.

The investment in Helsing is joined by the fact that the platform has passed recruitment announcements from the United States Immigration and Customs Service (ICE), heard by those who do not subscribe to the streaming service.

The ICE has conducted violent anti-immigration operations in various cities of the United States, notably in Minneapolis, where police officers shot two U.S. citizens earlier this year.

Adding to all this is also the songs created by Artificial Intelligence (IA).

“ Spotify does not want to miss the opportunity to be in this game and signed a contract with big publishers to be part of this millionaire business. It's curious why Spotify feeds back, because it has copyright in this AI song, and if it has many ‘plays’ end up paying themselves with these rights. It is a very perverse thing ", defended.

Salvador Sobral warns that the music consumption generated by AI “is already happening in everyday life”, without people noticing.

“ If we hear a ‘playlist’ of weekly discoveries there is a high probability of listening to music made with AI, without being warned of anything. It is an act of our resistance, as artists, we do not want to be part of this digital tyranny of the ‘playlists’ and the music made with AI”, he said.

Born in Lisbon, 1989, Salvador Sobral edited the debut album, “Excuse me”, in 2016. On his own behalf, he also edited the albums “Paris, Lisboa” (2019), “BPM” (2021) and “Timbre” (2023), and the EP “Sal” (2022), to which he joined projects in which he participated with other musicians, namely Alexander Search, a project that takes the name of Fernando Pessoa, Alma Nuestra, Noko Woi, which he shares with Leonardo Aldrey, Silvia Pérez Cruz and First Breath After Coma.

In October, Salvador Sobral edited “The Flower of the Restart”, an album made of novel themes by Brazilian musicians such as Adriana Calcanhotto, Arnaldo Antunes, Chico César, Céu, Marcelo Camel, Mallu Magalhães, Marcos Valle and Tim Bernardes.

The one that is Salvador Sobral’s first album with “only Brazilian compositions was recorded in São Paulo and produced by Brazilians Marcus Preto and Tó Brandileone, according to Warner Music Portugal, in a statement released in June.

The new work was recorded with a band of Brazilian musicians: Tiago Costa (piano), Fábio Sá (contrabass), Conrado Goys (guitar), Sergio Machado (bateria) and Felipe Roseno (percussion).