Anti-Social Club On the Making Of “Bye Bye Spotify”
What inspired you to create "Bye Bye Spotify?"
When Spotify announced that they would start taking all royalties from artists whose songs get less than 1,000 streams per year and redistributing those funds to more well-known acts, it was an infuriating slap in the face. The platform has never treated artists particularly well, but this was a new low. And as we realized the negative impact this policy will have especially on lesser-known indie musicians, we knew that we should push back. The question was how? After some thought, we realized that one great response would be a punk-inspired grassroots campaign of creative resistance, and thus “Bye Bye Spotify” was born.
What is the message behind "Bye Bye Spotify?"
Our song “Bye Bye Spotify” is offered as the leading edge of a campaign that seeks to publicly spotlight Spotify’s unfair business practices and pressure them to change. The song clearly and forcefully calls out the company for its policy of literally stealing money from smaller independent artists and handing it over to the major labels; announces that in response Anti-Social Club is pulling all of our music from the platform except for this song; and invites listeners and artists alike to join us in taking a collective stand against the streaming giant. The aim is to build a groundswell of opposition that publicly shames Spotify into reversing course on this issue, and to hit them hard in the pocketbook if they won’t.
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for "Bye Bye Spotify?"
Honestly this is not a song that we wanted to do, but felt we had to do. Once the idea was born and we agreed to move forward, it became one of the fastest projects we ever completed – despite our band members juggling full-time jobs and being permanently separated by three time zones. When you’re passionate about something, you find a way. And as luck (or perhaps fate) would have it, we did actually end up with an exceedingly rare opportunity to get together in-person as we were all in the same town (Washington DC) for a few days in December for completely different reasons. After a nice band dinner to catch up, two of us (Greg and Peter) managed to get some key song development work done in a parked rental car on Peter’s laptop while waiting for a flight to come in. It was the first time we had the opportunity to work on music together in the same physical space in years, which was awesome. And that unplanned hour-long session proved to be pivotal in getting the song on track for quick completion and release.
Can you tell us more about you as a band?
We are a US-based band formed in 2001, originally from the Washington DC area but now spread across three different time zones (Virginia, South Dakota, and Nevada). Our music is influenced by bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Church, New Order, and Love & Rockets, and aims to offer a powerful blend of expressive melodies, infectious beats, thoughtful lyrics, and heartfelt vocals. None of us are full-time musicians but at the same time writing and playing music together has always been very important to us. We are proud of the two full-length albums and various singles we’ve released as well as live performances we put in over the years. And despite the distance we’ve decided to remain active as a band because we greatly value the creative outlet and close friendship it enables us to foster. In addition to “Bye Bye Spotify” we’ve been working on a new EP which we hope to release later this year, and we also have longer-term plans for another album and maybe more, if the fates allow it.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Our music often touches on fairly deep, poignant themes such as the mysteries of life and death, feelings of being out of touch or out of place in an often strange and cruel world, and struggling to find meaning and solace in our day-to-day existence. Occasionally we also delve into making politically tinged statements with our music, particularly when we perceive a major injustice or wrong that is going unnoticed or unaddressed. That’s one reason we launched the “Bye Bye Spotify” campaign. As indie musicians ourselves we know first-hand how hard it is to be successful in the music industry and how important the creative endeavor is to the musicians that do it. Most of us aren’t in it for the money, but still we’d at least like to have a chance to break even or earn a little bit through our creative output, and furthermore none of us like or deserve to have our pockets picked. Spotify’s new policy is nothing less than theft in broad daylight, and it needs to be challenged and overturned before it becomes the new normal and further erodes the ability of independent artists to eke out a living and provide the gift of music to the world. We encourage anyone who wishes to join this fight to visit linktr.ee for more info.
