When divulging into the group’s continued prominence in the metal scene, the conversation quickly transpired into the frontman’s perspective of music streaming services ruining the culture and consumption of music. Filth contextualised his opinion by referring to his own music collection and how much consumption had changed since the band’s emergence in 1991. The frontman stated: “Speaking for myself, I always saw radio the same way back in the 90s, and so I ended up amassing a personal collection of about 2000 CDs. And I miss the days when there were physical charts… But nowadays it’s like a fuc**ng free-for-all.”

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Filth’s comments also alerted to the ideal that consumption and streaming culture varied from genre to genre. In doing so, he admired consumers of metal for being “loyal” and avoiding streaming services, which has subsequently allowed the metal scene to remain “intact”.

It appears the ‘Nymphetamine Fix’ vocalist’s frustrations stem from the suspected underpaying of artists by streaming services, arguably devaluing their art and making music a financially insufficient career. Filth refers to the aftermath of the pandemic: “And 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’. And it’s because, music it’s just seen like daylight robbery.”

He continued to argue that there’s a heightened entitlement when it comes to music that doesn’t exist with other commodities. Filth compared the culture surrounding streaming to an individual entering a supermarket and helping themselves to produce for free. Inferring the outrage that would rise out of this audacity wouldn’t be present when music is concerned as it isn’t physically perceived in the same way. Therefore, the lack of physicality in streaming music portrays the media as a free-for-all.

This isn’t the first time Daniel Lloyd Davey, known professionally as Dani Filth, has openly slammed music streaming platforms. Back in 2023, he referred to Spotify as “the biggest criminals in the world” over their monetary practices, after revealing Cradle of Filth had 26 million plays the year prior, while the frontman “got about 20 pounds”.

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Perhaps Filth isn’t the only person to share this mindset. After all, 2024 saw the first increase in physical music in 20 years.  The Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) found the consumption of CDs and vinyl were at a new high, following a new culture of collecting physical media.

Cradle of Filth will be touring the UK this summer, access tickets here. Pre-order ‘The Screaming of the Valkyries’ here.

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Deezer’s Global VP of Artist Relations, Nigel Harding as provided the following statement concerning the revelation, “It’s fantastic to see so many homegrown artists like Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa continue to shine both internationally and here in the UK. What really stands out is the enduring appeal of older material. The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ and Tones and I’s ‘Dance Monkey’, both continue to dominate the charts more than 18 months after release. And it’s remarkable that Eminem remains as popular now as he was two decades ago”

The category of the top artist has been awarded to British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. The “Shivers” singer topped the list as the number one streamed artist.  Second and third places were taken by American rapper Eminem and The Weeknd. Following the pair was Dua Lipa, the British hitmaker who came in fourth as the service’s most-streamed artist. Fellow British act, Little Mix, also placed within the top 10 and closed off the list.

Dua Lipa not only charted within the top artist list but was also crowned as the top female artist within the streaming service. The “Don’t Start Now” singer beat out big names such as Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande to be the most streamed female artist. Little Mix also made an appearance within the top five and was announced as the fourth most female act streamed in 2021. The “Shout Out To My Ex” girl group also beat out American artists to reach the high position, Lady Gaga, Billie Elish and Rihanna charted behind Little Mix in streams.

Within the category for Top Track, Canadian artist The Weeknd won with his 2019 track “Blinding Lights”. The number one single was released from the 31-year-old singer’s fourth studio album After Hours. “Dance Money” by Tones and I placed in second place and was followed by “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran which charted at number three. British singer Harry Styles closed the top ten list with his single “Watermelon Sugar”.

The most streamed album was awarded to Olivia Rodrigo for her debut album Sour. The Weeknd also featured within this list, the singer’s double-platinum album After Hours followed in second place. Ed Sheeran’s 2021 album Divide was confirmed as the third most-streamed album within Deezer.

The platform awarded Ed Sheeran with another win; the singer won the Top Karaoke Song award with his number one single “Bad Habits”. Eurovision winners Måneskin filled both the second and third positions, the Italian rockers closed the top three with tracks “Beggin” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave”. American rapper Lil Nas X also charted twice in the category, “Industry Baby” landed at number six and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” placed at number ten.

The announcement also consisted of further categories including Top Playlist, Top Deezer Originals song and Top Podcast. To accompany the list of the service’s most listened to content Deezer has also created a Best of 2021 channel for its users to enjoy.

McVie left the band in 1998 following the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and her win of a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1998. McVie remained in semi-retirement for 15 years and rejoined the band in October 2014. The singer has announced that she has now sold her 115- song back catalogue to the company Hipgnosis.

Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie Sells 115-Song Catalog to Hipgnosis https://t.co/8XFgoERUvs

— Variety (@Variety) August 9, 2021

Hipgnosis was founded by Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadi in 2018 and has also successfully obtained songwriting rights from the band’s Lindsey Buckingham. McVie follows in the footsteps of the co-founder of the band Mick Fleetwood who secured a deal with BMG and Stevie Nicks who has a deal with Primary Wave. It is reported that the deal with Hipgnosis includes ownership of McVie’s songs, financial interest, and writers shares of her songwriting credits (Inclusive of McVie’s solo work) and worldwide copyright.

McVie expressed her excitement and stated, “I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit”.

Mercuriadi’s from Hipgnosis has hailed McVie as being one of the greatest songwriters. Hipgnosis has amassed a market value of £1.4 billion and has also acquired the catalogue rights to other big artists such as Shakira, Michael Buble, Neil Young, Mark Ronson and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Mercuriadis speaking of the deal said “Christine McVie is one of the greatest songwriters of all time having guided Fleetwood Mac to almost 150 million albums sold and making them one of the best-selling bands of all time globally,”

McVie thanked Hipgnosis for their deal and expressed that she wishes to maintain their relationship in any way that she can. In the wake of increasing streaming numbers, the song “The Chain” that McVie co-wrote with Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie and Stevie Nicks has been streamed 1 billion times.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), global recorded music grew by 7.4% in 2020 – the sixth consecutive year of growth. In the UK, revenues from online services grew by 15.4%, representing a total revenue of £736 mn. These big numbers could lead us to think that songwriters and performers are being remunerated fairly, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Artists receive very close to 0.003p per stream and feel they are being left out of the big chunk of revenue that labels and streaming services get from deals and subscriptions. In fact, the earnings of these entities seem to be 4 times higher than the artists’ share, according to the #BrokenRecord campaign.

That is why, on the 22nd of March 2021, the UK saw the last hearing around this pressing worldwide matter. The committee of MPs dealing with this issue seems to be leaning towards the #BrokenRecord campaign: artists are struggling, labels – especially majors – are monopolising the market, and an equal remuneration is needed. Ministers have so far prioritised the comeback of live gigs (being the first stream of income for artists), a fairer and easier copyright process, and the increasing competitiveness of the market.

Government officials have expressed the importance of streaming platforms in the modern music market. It is true that emerging artists can work their way into the business without signing to a major – or any label at all. But an important distinction has to be made between performers, songwriters and session musicians (both established and emerging), because, although having different roles, they should be protected in the same way. It is a long way to the top, but the sole fact that these issues are being discussed in a music hub such as the UK is already half the battle.