Unsold £1m album keeps royalties debate open

The Pocket Gods frontman Mark Christopher Lee has made a film about the Pocket Gods campaign for higher online royalties

A band attempting to sell just one copy of an album for £1m as part of a campaign for higher online royalties said it was about "keeping the debate in the public eye".

The vinyl copy of Vegetal Digital by the Pocket Gods, from St Albans, has been on sale at a record store in the Hertfordshire city since October.

The band wants to set up a rival streaming platform with the money.

Frontman Mark Christopher Lee said the record is "still raising awareness of an issue we are passionate about".

The four-piece band have been releasing albums of 30-second songs since 2015 to highlight the lack of what they call fair royalties

He said musicians routinely get underpaid for their work and that Spotify currently paid it a royalty of £0.002 per stream, but a track had to reach 30 seconds in length to qualify.

His four-piece band have been releasing albums of 30-second songs since 2015 to highlight the lack of what they call fair royalties.

Lee said their latest album - Nobody Makes Money Anymore, which has 1,000 30 second songs on it, had got about one million "spins" and raised about £250.

Last year, their 76th album, a vinyl LP consisting of 10 new full-length songs, and not available in other formats, was put on sale in Empire Records with the six-figure price tag.

If the album is sold for the asking price, the money will be used to fund a rival streaming platform, Nub Play, which will guarantee to pay artists and songwriters a minimum of 1p per stream.

'Serious offers'

Lee said a lot of people have been to see the album and particularly want to see the price tag, but despite some "serious offers" it had not yet sold for the full amount.

"It's become a bit of an attraction and it is keeping the debate in the public eye," he said.

"We haven't considered the offers yet, we're just sticking to the £1m because lower offers won't give us the funds for what we want to do.

"But the interest from the story has been great and it's getting the message out there, it's still raising awareness of an issue we are passionate about."

Founded in 1998, the group has been recognised by Guiness World Records as having the most studio albums released digitally, with 75 by 5 November 2021

The front man said that all he wants is for "artists and songwriters to be valued by their listeners and to be fairly compensated".

"Spotify has told me artists should see music streaming as just a slice of the pizza, but my issue is where else do you make money from music now," he said.

"Touring is hard and expensive."

'Honest debate'

His film about the campaign - Inspired: The 30 Second Song Movie - has just been released on Amazon Prime, and is an "honest debate about the issue", he said.

It is "well-balanced" and not a rant about Spotify, he added, which he said is still "a great resource".

"At the start of the internet people were downloading music for free all over the place," he said.

"Spotify came along and put some sort of order to the chaos, but my question is 'where does it go from here?'

"We need to ask ourselves as music consumers, how we value music."

Lee said the film is an "honest debate" about the issue

He said consumers in the film, which has already won eight awards, were "shocked" at what artists earned.

"People don't understand, they assume musicians are doing OK and pop stars are all rich, but not everyone is a pop star with millions of fans," he said.

"They don't realise that musicians aren't getting a fair deal, it's about education really, something needs to change."

'Complete reset'

A Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee report called Economics of music streaming: follow-up, has called for a "complete reset" of streaming to "address the fundamental, structural problems within the recorded music industry".

A government spokesman said the music industry is "one of the UK economy's major success stories" and it was "committed to ensuring that musicians and songwriters are paid fairly for their work".

"We are exploring issues relating to artist pay as part of our programme of work on music streaming and are currently considering the contents of this report," a statement said.

"It is important that any solutions work for the entire industry and deliver meaningful and long-lasting benefits for all."

Meanwhile, Lee said 2023 would see the Pocket Gods not only celebrate their 25th anniversary but also "hopefully launch the ethical streaming service".

"Maybe Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift will come on board," he said.

Spotify has been contacted for comment.