Esthero protests streaming royalties by interrupting her own song on Spotify

Canadian singer-songwriter Esthero is protesting against the low royalties paid by streaming services to artists by inserting an anti-Spotify message into her latest single on Spotify. One minute and 37 seconds in to Gimme Some Time, she interrupts the music with a message that urges listeners to buy her song directly from her website.

"It's really hard as an independent artist to make money, and Spotify and other streaming services only pay about .003 to .008 cents per stream," says Esthero over the track. "It's really not a liveable income. So once again, I really hope you enjoy my music, and I hope you enjoy it enough to actually go and support and buy the song from me."

She joined q's Tom Power from Los Angeles to tell us more about her choice to attack streaming services from the inside.

Click 'Listen' near the top of this page to hear the full conversation with Esthero.

— Produced by ​Chris Trowbridge