Over 200 record labels withdrawn from Napster and Spotify

Spotify

More than 200 record labels are set to remove their content from Napster and Spotify, blaming the music services for harming digital revenues.

The move comes after STHoldings, a distributor of 238 record labels, announced it would be pulling its content from the services.

STHoldings said in a statement today that it has "concerns that these services cannibalise the revenues of more traditional digital services".

The company handles distribution for some of the most influential labels in dance music such as Prolific, Boka and Hessle Audio.

The statement from STHoldings said it had the full support of the vast majority of its labels: "As a distributor we have to do what is best for our labels. The majority of which do not want their music on such services because of the poor revenues and the detrimental affect on sales." Only four of the 238 labels represented have asked to remain on the streaming services.

A recently released study by NPD Group and NARM, shared with Digital Music News, which suggested services such as Spotify "increase access but decrease spending".

Coldplay recently decided against putting its latest album on Spotify and subsequently enjoyed record sales.

Whether this marks a slow shift away from streaming services, especially by smaller labels, remains to be seen.

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Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is Content Director for T3 and What Hi-Fi?, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for more than 15 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).