Spotify Pledges Up To $10M In Relief, Adds Arist Fundraising Features To Combat COVID-19


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Music streaming behemoth Spotify has teamed up with MusiCares PRS Foundation and Help Musicians, giving and matching donations up to $10 million to help fight off the global pandemic’s impact on the music business.

“Spotify is making a donation to these organizations and will match donations made via the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief page dollar-for-dollar up to a total Spotify contribution of $10 million,” the announcement reads. 
Meanwhile, the streaming service is working to launch a new feature that will enable artists to raise funds directly from fans. “Soon, we will give artists the ability to drive listeners to a fundraising destination of their choice on their Spotify artist profile pages.”  The statement notes this will be optional for artists, and Spotify will not take a cut of any contributions.
“Combatting the impact of this pandemic on the music industry will take a massive global effort, and we are working quickly to assemble and optimize these new resources. We will share additional details and updates as soon as we have them.”
The announcement comes as the industry bands together to keep the music flowing. Bandcamp’s artist-friendly initiative Friday, during which the site waived its portion of revenue-share so artists and labels get a complete cut, resulted in more than $4.3 million worth of music and merch sold on that day alone.