Why Spotify is bad for artists I was just thinking on Spotify and its value (or lack thereof) to an artist. Here are my thoughts, and why I hope against hope that it crashes and burns in the US despite the hype: From my sales on TuneCore, I see that Spotify pays me an average of approximately 0.23 cents per play. Compare this to iTunes, through which an artist gets 70 cents per song sold. Now think about how many times you typically play a song you bought off of iTunes. You can check a playlist that iTunes automatically generates for you: “Top 25 Most Played.” Of course this only includes those songs played on iTunes on the computer you’re checking, but my most played song was played 26 times. I’d estimate that across devices, I’ve played that song – my most played, remember – 100 times tops. Most other songs will have been played many fewer times than this. Now consider how many times a fan would have to play that song at 0.23 cents per play in order to earn an artist the same 70 cents he or she would earn on iTunes. 70 cents divided by 0.23 cents per play is over 300 plays. On top of this, most of Spotify’s users have free, ad-supported accounts which restrict the number of times a user can listen to a song to five plays max. In other words, an artist is never going to earn as much on a song on Spotify as on iTunes. image I think the point is clear – Spotify is bad for artists. If it takes off in the US, it’s going to hurt us. I know there are other ways for an artist to earn money; big acts make a killing playing shows. But for smaller indie artists it can be tough just to break even on a tour. I still feel that record sales will always be a vital piece of the pie, an artist’s bread and butter (to mix food idioms). You might say, “If you don’t like it, don’t use it.” Sure, that’s fair, but what concerns me is that once a person has settled upon using Spotify to listen to music, they’re likely to use it almost exclusively...

posted this to tumblr in july 2011. spotify still sucks.

what I wish someone told me as a young audio engineer: you don't need a mixing masterclass. you don't even need boutique amps or microphones (although it helps). what you need, before anything else, is a good monitoring environment. excellent monitors plus room EQ to manage freq buildup. that's it.

Heads up dev teams! Fen is such a lovely person with an amazing talent

Behold! @mollymendoza.bsky.social original art has arrived and it is even more beautiful in person. Stay tuned for an epic art drop!

Panel from a comic. A mouse/rat is DJing in front of a big crowd of other rats/mice. The DJ is shouting "Let's go!". Dora the cat is standing at a doorway right at the back. The colours are blue, black, white and orange.

15/16

The 'Best Sound Design' nominees for Debug's Indie Game Awards 2026, featuring; Arctic Awakening, Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson, ROUTINE, Skate Story, The Knightling, and UNBEATABLE

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Sound Design' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are...

Arctic Awakening
Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson
ROUTINE
Skate Story
The Knightling
UNBEATABLE

Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

The 'Best Voice Acting' nominees for Debug's Indie Game Awards 2026, featuring; Arctic Awakening, Dispatch, Rosewater, The Drifter, The Haunting of Joni Evers, and UNBEATABLE

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Voice Acting' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are...

Arctic Awakening
Dispatch
Rosewater
The Drifter
The Haunting of Joni Evers
UNBEATABLE

Our live ceremony is made possible thanks to @gamemaker.io - Will we see you there IRL on 25 April 2026?

Debug Indie Game Awards nominees for Best Sound Design

game i sound designed up for sound design award ☺️ alongside some really amazing games

my mom recently gave me a box of my old school work. I found this biography of Left Eye from TLC that I made in 5th grade.

Hey look Monument Valley 3 is BAFTA nominated for British Game!!

If you enjoyed the game and the art and are looking for a cool artist to join your team I am still looking for work ✨

fensartden.com

Heya #WhatAGameDevLooksLike I'm Fen (they/them)!!!

I'm a senior art generalist with 10+ years of experience and I love working on colorful stylised projects. I play way too much overwatch and love talking about neurodiversity.

✨Currently looking for work ✨

You’re invited to Camp Pals in APRIL! 💌

That’s right, Find Your Words is coming out NEXT MONTH! We are ecstatic for you to experience everything Camp Pals has to offer 💬

BIG thank you to @kindafunnyvids.bsky.social and @themix.bsky.social for letting us announce this at their Spring Game Showcase!

hahahh amazing

get in loser, we're going to space

zooming out to reveal the planet

lmao i forgot about this prototype i made of a driving game where you can reach escape velocity launching off a highway into space

According to payment processors, purchasing fictional sexy art is grossly immoral.

Betting on school children getting blown up is fine though.

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A British woman who got detained by ICE declared "....that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain – the guards told me that”."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Clearly, it's not safe to travel to the US.

incredible!

#screenshotsaturday #indiegame

Fen Beatty

After 9+ years at ustwo games I have unfortunately been made redundant.

If you are looking for a stylised 3D generalist with 10+ years experience to have on your team please give me a shout or let others know that I am available for work! I'd love to chat ✨

fensartden.com
fensartden@gmail.com

A black & white image with bold text reading: Ice out! Nationwide shutdown! No work. No school. No shopping. Jan 30, 2026. Sign on to join us: nationalshutdown.org

Minnesota is calling for a national general strike tomorrow. I am closing my small business in solidarity and I will not be shopping or showing up for work. Anyone in the United States can participate in a national general strike. Please consider lending your support. Reach out if you have questions

😍

what ICE is doing now is not new. That it happens to whites with phones IS new. The US has been a carceral police state my whole life. We run FOR PROFIT PRISONS. Incarcerated communities provide free labor for the state!! Billionaires and media-backed state violence are the same axis of exploitation

Here lived the Cardinals (🐦)...

#gamedev #indiegame #memamorkin

160 years ago today, the 13th Amendment was ratified.

People say it abolished slavery, but it didn’t. Slavery still exists as a punishment for a crime.

Alabama fast food restaurants have incarcerated people working for little to no money.

The Louisiana State Penitentiary has inmates in fields.

screenshot of a body of text. the text reads "The post includes information about payments from the different streaming services. Most of the streams of All Hell came through Spotify, which pays less than its competitors. Gareth writes, "If everyone who streamed All Hell on Spotify had done so using Tidal instead, we would have received an extra £31,847.38, which would double the amount we made from streaming of the album in this time period. Or if everyone used Apple Music it would have been £12,331 more." Elsewhere, he says, "There are many reasons, unrelated to artist reimbursement, why Spotify is the dirt worst of the streaming platforms. I trust by now you are aware of these.""

streaming is a reality. but truly – just moving those streams from spotify to literally any other platform? like, it actually matters

WRAP THAT, IT'S REAL

los campesinos! forever

stereogum.com/2481865/los-...

twitter has been deserted for good so i suppose i will post here too: i am currently open for work! hit me up if you know of openings that i'd be a good fit for 🫡

i updated my hireme page with a sample of the stuff i can do - videogame graphics, VFX, 2D art and so on
polclarissou.com/hireme/

I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago.

“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

wow, which common vaccine was it?