Century Media pulls out of Spotify

Despite the significant hype surrounding London-based Spotify, heavy music and hardcore label Century Media has decided to withdraw their catalogue from the service. For those unfamiliar with Spotify, the product provides an iTunes-like interface to a massive library of music which can be streamed on-demand, or optionally on mobile devices. The service's claim to fame is a massive catalogue including most major and indie labels. While it has been very convenient for music fans, a number of people have raised concerns about how it further devalues music.

Century Media, for their part, made this statement:

While everyone at the label group believes in the ever changing possibilities of new technology and new ways of bringing music to the fans, Century Media is also of the opinion that Spotify in its present shape and form isn't the way forward. The income streams to the artists are affected massively and therefore that accelerates the downward spiral, which eventually will lead to artists not being able to record music the way it should be recorded. Ultimately, in some cases, it will completely kill a lot of smaller bands that are already struggling to make ends meet.

Physical sales are dropping drastically in all countries where Spotify is active. Artists are depending on their income from selling music and it is our job to support them to do so. Since the artists need to sell their music to continue their creativity, Spotify is a problem for them. This is about survival, nothing less and it is time that fans and consumers realize that for artists it is essential to sell music to keep their heads above water.

What do you think? Is Spotify going to save music?