Two more country music artists are following the precedent set by Taylor Swift and Jason Aldean by leaving Spotify. Justin Moore and Brantley Gilbert have both pulled their most recent albums from the streaming service.
Both Moore and Gilbert are Big Machine Records artists, just like Swift, so it’s not too surprising that they would make the move next.
As Rolling Stone points our, Gilbert’s Just As I Am wasn’t available right away on Spotify. It didn’t show up until 60 days after it came out, but it’s now gone completely, except for the single “Bottoms Up.” The album sold over 500,000 copies while it wasn’t on Spotify.
Moore’s Off the Beaten Path, which is over a year old, was also just pulled. The only track that remains is “Point At You.”
Aldean was the first major artist to pull his latest album amid Swift’s public row with Spotify. He pulled his new album, Old Boots, New Dirt from the service. It’s also an interesting move because Aldean is not a Big Machine artist. He’s with Broken Bow Records.
Swift told Yahoo Music last week that she’s “not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music.” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responded on Tuesday, telling Swift that she and other artists definitely get paid for having their music on Spotify.
image of Justin Moore courtesy of Larry Marano/INFevents.com