Spotify Counters Criticism From Radiohead's Thom Yorke

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich took several albums off Spotify over the weekend — a move they describe as a "rebellion" against the streaming-music service for the way it pays artists. They publicly aired their criticisms on Twitter.

"Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will [not] get paid," Yorke said in one of the tweets. "Meanwhile, shareholders will shortly [be] rolling in it. Simples."

At our request, Spotify swiftly responded in an email to Mashable about royalty payouts:

Spotify's goal is to grow a service which people love, ultimately want to pay for, and which will provide the financial support to the music industry necessary to invest in new talent and music. We want to help artists connect with their fans, find new audiences, grow their fan base and make a living from the music we all love. Right now we're still in the early stages of a long-term project that's already having a hugely positive effect on artists and new music. We've already paid US$500M to rightsholders so far and by the end of 2013 this number will reach US$1bn. Much of this money is being invested in nurturing new talent and producing great new music.