My $100,000 Album Was Deleted By Spotify: An Artist's Story

This is the story of an independent artist who poured $100,000 into her debut album, only to have it removed from Spotify after a year and a half. It highlights the struggles artists face with streaming platforms, social media promotion, and the low royalty payouts, ultimately leading to a decision to focus on platforms like YouTube.

The Dream and The Reality

For ten years, I've been releasing music, but nothing prepared me for what happened next. I invested a significant amount of my own money, $100,000 to be exact, into my first full album, "Beauty and the Boss." After it had been out for about a year and a half and gathered over a million streams, Spotify removed it entirely. It sounds wild, I know. This isn't about fake streams or scams; it's about the harsh realities of being an independent artist in today's music industry.

My whole life has been about music. I took dance, music, and acting classes seriously, even got a degree in music business. Moving to LA, I worked any gig I could find, doing sessions and working a day job, just to get my music out there. For years, I sang and wrote for EDM producers, which was a great way to get my music heard, but I always wanted to be the main artist, sharing my own stories and my diverse vocal range.

Building a Career, Brick by Brick

It took years of hard work, saving money from DJ collaborations and selling vocal sample packs, to finally fund my own solo career. My first solo release, "No Evil," was with Dharma Worldwide, and my ballad "Underwater" became my most streamed song on Spotify. That's when I ran into my first major distribution issue. The company I signed with ended up taking all the YouTube AdSense revenue from my channel without permission. When I confronted them, they removed my song from all streaming platforms. In a panic, I switched to DistroKid to get "Underwater" back online.

During this time, I also focused on building my presence on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. This led to brand deals and revenue from my website, imkara.com, which finally gave me the financial stability to create my album.

The Cost of Creating an Album

Making the album was a long process, balancing it with life events like getting married and buying a house. We had to keep creating content to fund the dream. Once the songs were ready, the costs started adding up:

Legal Fees: Negotiating agreements for 12 songs with multiple contributors cost around $8,000 to $12,000.
Mixing: Top mixing engineers charge $2,000 to $4,000 per song. For 12 songs, this was a significant expense, but it made a huge difference in sound quality.
Mastering: While the main master is pricier, alternate versions (instrumental, acapella) add up, costing hundreds per song.
Photo Shoots: Professional shoots in LA can range from $1,000 to $3,000, not including hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Commercial licensing for using photos on merchandise or billboards is an additional cost.
Music Videos: We needed unique visuals for each of the 12 songs for Spotify's Canvas feature, plus an official music video. Hiring a professional film crew for a 4-day shoot, including a director, camera operators, set design, and gear rental, cost around $35,000 to $40,000.
Video Post-Production: Editing 12 visualizers and music videos, often done in-house to avoid issues, can cost $200 to $600 per day.

On top of this, we created tons of iPhone content and invested in camera gear for YouTube, hoping to promote the album effectively.

Promotion Nightmares

After all that investment, I uploaded the album to DistroKid for release. The release day was a mess. Ten out of twelve Spotify canvases were missing, taking weeks to resolve. Then came the social media promotion issues.

TikTok: My audio was muted for copyright, even though I hadn't used any copyrighted material. It turned out my songs were blocked because one of my co-writers was signed to a publisher involved in a lawsuit with TikTok. This blocked my music for six months.
YouTube: Monetization was blocked on videos using my album's music. Instead of video view revenue, I was paid for audio streams, which pay much less.
Instagram: Finding my songs in the music library was nearly impossible. Even if I found them, they'd disappear, making it incredibly difficult for fans to use my music.

The Spotify Deletion

Despite the promotion hurdles, the album was steadily gaining streams, reaching about 200,000 in its first year. Then, I received an email from Spotify: "Your releases containing these tracks were removed from their platform" due to flagged artificial streaming. The song that was finally gaining traction was flagged, and my entire album was taken down. I never bought fake streams or used bots. My theory is that a botted playlist promoted by someone else might have inadvertently caused this, punishing artists instead of the playlist creators.

The Financial Reality

After investing over $100,000, here's what the album generated:

DistroKid Payouts (Masters): Approximately 1.2 million streams across all platforms yielded $1,210.86. This amount is then split between the label and producers.
BMI Payouts (Publishing): Performance royalties totaled $347.56. Even with a TV sync for one song, the total income was minimal, especially when split among multiple writers.
Sync Licensing: A small sync deal brought in $2,000, split three ways.

The grand total generated was around $4,611. From a business standpoint, it was a disaster, like setting money on fire.

A New Direction

This whole experience was incredibly disappointing, but it forced me to rethink my entire business. I've made the decision to never release music on streaming platforms again. Instead, I'm focusing on YouTube, where I have full control, fair payment, and direct connection with my audience. YouTube actually treats creators well, responds to issues, and allows for growth and a stable income. It's a platform where I can make a living and have peace of mind.

I'm not telling this story to discourage artists, but to urge you to question why we support platforms that don't treat us fairly. There are other options. By adapting your strategy to video platforms, you can gain more attention, attract brand deals, get paid properly, and avoid the injustices of the current streaming system.

If you want to support my music, subscribe to my YouTube channel. You can also stream my album there, enjoy music videos, and check out my website, iamkara.com, for vocal templates, sample packs, and courses. I'm moving forward, becoming the "Beauty and the Boss" in my own right.

Key Takeaways

High Investment, Low Return: Creating a professional album involves significant costs, often far outweighing the royalties earned from streaming platforms.
Distribution and Platform Issues: Artists face challenges with distributors, copyright claims, and platform algorithms that can hinder promotion and lead to content removal.
Social Media Promotion is Complex: Getting music heard and used on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube involves navigating copyright issues, algorithm biases, and platform-specific monetization rules.
Spotify's Artificial Streaming Policy: Spotify's strict policy on artificial streams can lead to album removal, even for artists who haven't engaged in such practices.
YouTube as a Viable Alternative: Platforms like YouTube offer better monetization, creator control, and a more direct relationship with fans, making them a strong alternative to traditional streaming services.
Artist Agency: Independent artists need to be strategic about where they release and promote their music, prioritizing platforms that offer fair compensation and support.

Book the Rainforest Room — vocals from $200/2hr — or send stems for our Mix service.