title: Klaxons

text: Klaxons' debut single, "Gravity's Rainbow" was released in March 2006 on Angular Records. Only 500 copies were released; all were printed on a 7-inch vinyl decorated by the band themselves. Radio 1's Steve Lamacq was the first DJ to play the band, and invited them to play a Maida Vale Studios live session on the strength of the single. The band's second single, "Atlantis to Interzone", was released on 12 June of the same year. It was their first release for independent record label Merok Records, and led to further coverage in "NME" magazine. The song enjoyed radio coverage from Zane Lowe and daytime airings from Jo Whiley, who repeatedly, and mistakenly, called the song "Atlantic To Interscope". Zane Lowe also wrongly credited the song as "Atlantis To Interscope". They released their first EP, "Xan Valleys", on 17 October 2006. It was released on Australian record label Modular Recordings, and contained their first two singles alongside various remixes. The band played their first North American dates in New York's East Village in October 2006.


title: Klaxons

text: The band signed to Polydor Records in August 2006, following offers from numerous different record labels. Regarding the fee amount, James Righton said that it was "absurdly off the mark", and that the band signed for considerably less on the condition they would be given their own label imprint, Rinse Records. Their first single for the label, "Magick", was released on 30 October 2006 and reached #29 in the UK Top 40 the following week.


title: Klaxons

text: In August 2006, Klaxons played at the Reading and Leeds festivals. Fans sounded "Klaxons!" and cheered loudly between songs while brandishing glowsticks. This gave credit to the "New Rave" label, coined by band member Jamie Reynolds and later used by "NME" magazine to describe the scene. Also in August, the Klaxons performed an acoustic set in Ibiza Weekend for UK's BBC Radio 1 at Ibiza Rocks festival with Zane Lowe.


title: Klaxons

text: The first single from their debut album, "Golden Skans", was released on 22 January 2007. It reached #16 in the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone, two weeks before the official release of the CD. It climbed to #14 the next week, eventually peaking at #7 after the CD release. On 24 January Klaxons performed on the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, performing "Golden Skans" and a cover version of Justin Timberlake's "My Love". The band then released "It's Not Over Yet", a cover of a song originally by Grace. The track included the "My Love" cover as a B-side, and peaked at #13 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Klaxons

text: Their debut album, titled "Myths of the Near Future", was released on 29 January 2007. It entered the UK Album Charts at #2, behind Norah Jones's album "Not Too Late". Percussion and drumming on the album was provided by the album's producer James Ford, with live drummer Halperin recording on "Atlantis to Interzone".


title: Klaxons

text: On 1 October 2007, the band released "A Bugged Out Mix", a double album featuring 27 tracks mixed by Reynolds.


title: Klaxons

text: Klaxons singled out a new song that has strong progressive rock influences as a guide to one possible direction the album may go in, revealed recently "NME" magazine. Guitarist Simon Taylor said, "We wanna make something that's bigger and softer and louder and lo-fi and heavier produced - just lots of contradictions. I think it's gonna be like the last record but swollen. We've been listening to a lot of European prog music, and dubstep, and dance and folk. A huge broad variety of things really. There's one track we've been playing in soundcheck, it's this massive prog opus."


title: Klaxons

text: Klaxons performed with the singer Rihanna on her song "Umbrella" which had "Golden Skans" mixed into the background during the Brit Awards 2008 held in London on 20 February 2008.


title: Klaxons

text: Klaxons won 'Best Album' at the 2008 NME Awards held at London's IndigO Arena on 28 February 2008. This followed having won 'Best New Band' the previous year. Klaxons also won 'Best International Album' and 'Best International Track' for "Golden Skans" at the first American NME awards, which were held in Los Angeles, California.


title: Klaxons

text: Talk of a second album began in November 2007, during the band's UK winter tour. Influences include dubstep, dance and folk music. The band was featured on Steve Aoki's debut DJ mix album "Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles", contributing the Soulwax remix of "Gravity's Rainbow" for its release in January 2008. They made their live return with a series of gigs in Europe and South America during October 2008, debuting two new tracks, "Valley of the Calm Trees" and "Moonhead". In an interview with "NME" magazine in November, the band confirmed they were heading to France to record with James Ford, aiming to be completed by December for release in early 2009. The band made an appearance at Modular Records's NeverEverLand festival that toured around Australia in December 2008.


title: Klaxons

text: At the beginning of 2009, the band played a small club show at Madame Jojo's in London, their first in the capital since the "NME" Big Gig the previous year. During the set, the band featured new songs "Imaginary Pleasures" and "In Silver Forest", together with the previously aired "Moonhead" and "Valley of the Calm Trees". In March 2009, it was reported that the band had been told to re-record parts of their second album, after it was rejected by label Polydor. Reynolds said "we've made a really dense, psychedelic record" and that "it isn't the right thing for us [the band]". In an interview with BBC News, Reynolds revealed that "Moonhead" and new track "Marble Fields and the Hydrolight Head of Delusion" were "probably going to make it", and that they were working with "Simian Mobile Disco production" during April–May 2009. Reynolds added that "Valley of the Calm Trees" had been retitled "The Parhelion", to reflect its lyrical content. James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco confirmed working with the band later in the year, stating in an interview with "Newsbeat" that they were "...trying to keep it melodic and vocal because that's one of their great strong points".


title: Klaxons

text: On 22 May 2009, the band announced a show at Coventry's Kasbah nightclub, their only scheduled headline UK performance. The concert, to take place on 3 June, sparked rumours that the band may feature at the 2009 Glastonbury Festival. The band supported Blur at their comeback show at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 26 June, before playing a surprise set at Glastonbury the following day. The set included further new songs "Hoodoo Bora", "Future Memory" and "Echoes". In addition to Glastonbury, the band featured at numerous other festivals including Bestival, Ibiza Rocks, and headlined the Croatian Hartera festival.


title: Klaxons

text: It was announced during November 2009 that the band were now working with producer Ross Robinson, with Robinson confirming through his Twitter account. The band stated that work with Ford had gone astray, reaching difficulties with Ford acting as both producer and drummer. Klaxons broke from recording at the end of the year to perform at Get Loaded In the Dark at Brixton Academy on 31 December 2009, featuring alongside Chase & Status and Annie Mac. Recording was completed to the satisfaction of both band and label in February 2010. The following month, it was confirmed that the band would be playing Open'er Festival in Poland as well as the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK. They headlined the BBC Radio 1/"NME" Stage. Taylor-Davies suggested Reading and Leeds would be a UK-exclusive, saying, "I think in England it's just going to be Reading and Leeds, in terms of festivals, this summer".


title: Klaxons

text: On 25 May 2010, Zane Lowe premiered the track "Flashover" on his BBC Radio 1 show, the band's first new material in three years. Even though the track was not released as a single it was available on the band's new album, titled "Surfing the Void". In support of the new album, the band announced an eight date tour of the UK and France, which took place during May–July 2010. For live performances, they were joined by Anthony Rossomando as a touring member.


title: Klaxons

text: Their second album "Surfing the Void" was released on 23 August 2010, and includes the single "Echoes", which was released one week prior. In contrast to the band's debut album which sold 350,000 in the UK, Surfing the Void sold 30,000 and was to be the last release with Universal/Polydor.


title: Klaxons

text: On 25 December 2010, the band released on their website a free EP of material that was worked on for the album in 2007-2008, entitled "Landmarks of Lunacy".


title: Klaxons

text: In January 2012, Klaxons announced on their Twitter account that they were to begin recording their third album on 30 January. "NME" reported that the album was "expected to be released later" in the year and that the band were working with James Murphy and The Chemical Brothers. At Berlin Festival 2013 they played new songs "Children of the Sun", "Invisible Forces", "Love Frequency", "Rhythm of Life" and "New Reality" which were released on their 2014 album.


title: Klaxons

text: The album's lead single "There is No Other Time" is a collaboration with British production duo Gorgon City, and was premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 3 February 2014, then becoming Radio 1's Track Of The Day the following day. Along with "Children Of The Sun", produced by Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, the AA-side single was released on 30 March 2014, followed by a four-date UK tour. On 10 February, "Children Of The Sun", was premiered on Steve Lamacq's BBC Radio 6 show. "There is No Other Time" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 42. Their third album, "Love Frequency", was released on 16 June 2014. It entered the UK charts at number 38.


title: Klaxons

text: In October 2014 the band announced that their dates in the UK and Europe through October/November and Japan/South America in January 2015 would be their "last headline tour". The band's publicist was unable to confirm whether this meant the band were splitting up or not.


title: Klaxons

text: The band were described as "acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk" by the NME in Tim Chester's Radar feature and were at the forefront of the New Rave movement. Generally derided by critics, Jamie Reynolds explained New Rave as something that "started as an in-joke and became a minor youth subculture".


title: Carrara

text: Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and "comune" in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its motto is "Fortitudo mea in rota" (Latin: "My strength is in the wheel").


title: Carrara

text: The word "Carrara" likely comes from the pre-Roman (Celtic or Ligurian) element "kar" (stone), through Latin "carrariae" meaning 'quarries'.


title: Carrara

text: There were known settlements in the area as early as the ninth century BC, when the Apuan Ligures lived in the region. The current town originated from the borough built to house workers in the marble quarries created by the Romans after their conquest of Liguria in the early second century BC. Carrara has been linked with the process of quarrying and carving marble since the Roman Age. Marble was exported from the nearby harbour of Luni at the mouth of the river Magra.


title: Carrara

text: In the early Middle Ages it was a Byzantine and then Lombard possession, and then, it was under the Bishops of Luni who started to write the city's history when the Emperor Otto I gave it to them. It turned itself into a city-state in the early 13th century; during the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Carrara usually belonged to the latter party. The Bishops acquired it again in 1230, their rule ending in 1313, when the city was given in succession to the Republics of Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Later it was acquired by Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan.


title: Carrara

text: After the death of Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in 1447, Carrara was fought over by Tommaso Campofregoso, lord of Sarzana, and again the Malaspina family, who moved here the seat of their "signoria" in the second half of the 15th century. Carrara and Massa formed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from the 15th to the 19th century. Under the last Malaspina, Maria Teresa, who had married Ercole III d'Este, it became part of the Duchy of Modena.


title: Carrara

text: After the short Napoleonic rule of Elisa Bonaparte, it was given back to Modena. During the unification of Italy age, Carrara was the seat of a popular revolt led by Domenico Cucchiari, and was a center of Giuseppe Mazzini's revolutionary activity.


title: Carrara

text: At the end of the 19th century Carrara became the cradle of anarchism in Italy, in particular among the quarry workers. The quarry workers, including the stone carvers, had radical beliefs that set them apart from others. Ideas from outside the city began to influence the Carrarese. Anarchism and general radicalism became part of the heritage of the stone carvers. According to a "New York Times" article of 1894 many violent revolutionists who had been expelled from Belgium and Switzerland went to Carrara in 1885 and founded the first anarchist group in Italy. Carrara has remained a continuous 'hotbed' of anarchism in Italy, with several organizations located openly in the city. The Anarchist marble workers were also the driving force behind organising labour in the quarries and in the carving sheds. They were also the main protagonists of the Lunigiana revolt in January 1894.


title: Carrara

text: In 1929, the municipalities of Carrara, Massa and Montignoso were merged in a single municipality, called "Apuania". In 1945 the previous situation was restored.


title: Carrara

text: As a titular Duke of Modena, the current holder of the title of "Prince of Carrara" would be Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.


title: Carrara

text: Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. The Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it, and many sculptures of the Renaissance were carved from it.


title: Carrara

text: In addition to the , the city has academies of sculpture and fine arts and a museum of statuary and antiquities, and a yearly marble technology fair. The local marble is exported around the world, and marble from elsewhere is also fashioned and sculpted commercially here.


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: The prime minister of Portugal (; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, is accountable to parliament and keeps the president informed. The prime minister can hold the role of head of government with the portfolio of one or more ministries.


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: There is no limit to the number of terms a person can serve as prime minister. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Portugal following legislative elections, after having heard the parties represented in the parliament. Usually, the person named is the leader of the largest party in the previous election, but there have been exceptions over the years.


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: Since the Middle Ages, some officers of the Portuguese Crown gained precedence over the others, serving as a kind of prime ministers. Over time, the role of principal officer of the Crown fell upon the "chanceler-mor" (chancellor), the "mordomo-mor" (mayor of the palace) and the "escrivão da puridade" (king's private secretary).


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: The first modern prime minister of Portugal was Pedro de Sousa Holstein, Marquess of Palmela, who was sworn in on 24 September 1834, as "Presidente do Conselho de Ministros" (President of the Council of Ministers). In 1911, the official title of the prime minister became "Presidente do Ministério" (President of the Ministry). In 1933, it became again "Presidente do Conselho de Ministros".


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: The present title "Primeiro-Ministro" (Prime Minister), attributed to the head of the Government of Portugal, was officially established by the Constitution of 1976 after the revolution of 25 April 1974


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: The incumbent prime minister of Portugal is António Costa, who took office on 26 November 2015 as the 13th prime minister of the Third Portuguese Republic. The official residence of the prime minister is a mansion next to São Bento Palace, which, in confusion, is also often called "São Bento Palace".


title: Prime Minister of Portugal

text: Just behind the main building of the Assembly of the Republic, there is a mansion that serves as residence and office for the prime minister of Portugal. The mansion, dated from 1877, was built within the garden of the old monastery that held the Portuguese parliament. It has been the prime minister's official residence since 1938, when Salazar moved in. Although it is the official residence of the prime minister, not all incumbents have lived in the mansion during their term in office.


title: Bank of Japan

text: The is the central bank of Japan. The bank, which buys everything it can get its hands on, but mysteriously never has to explain where the money comes from, and also whose policies have never led to a recovery in the GDP, is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo.


title: Bank of Japan

text: Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration. Prior to the Restoration, Japan's feudal fiefs all issued their own money, "hansatsu", in an array of incompatible denominations, but the "New Currency Act" of Meiji 4 (1871) did away with these and established the yen as the new decimal currency, which had parity with the Mexican silver dollar. The former han (fiefs) became prefectures and their mints became private chartered banks which, however, initially retained the right to print money. For a time both the central government and these so-called "national" banks issued money. A period of unanticipated consequences was ended when the Bank of Japan was founded in Meiji 15 (10 October 1882), under the Bank of Japan Act 1882 (27 June 1882), after a Belgian model. It has since been partly privately owned (its stock is traded over the counter, hence the stock number). A number of modifications based on other national banks were encompassed within the regulations under which the bank was founded. The institution was given a monopoly on controlling the money supply in 1884, but it would be another 20 years before the previously issued notes were retired.


title: Bank of Japan

text: Following the passage of the Convertible Bank Note Regulations (May 1884), the Bank of Japan issued its first banknotes in 1885 ("Meiji 18"). Despite some small glitches—for example, it turned out that the konjac powder mixed in the paper to prevent counterfeiting made the bills a delicacy for rats—the run was largely successful. In 1897, Japan joined the gold standard, and in 1899 the former "national" banknotes were formally phased out.


title: Bank of Japan

text: Since its Meiji era beginnings, the Bank of Japan has operated continuously from main offices in Tokyo and Osaka.


title: Bank of Japan

text: The Bank of Japan was reorganized in 1942 (fully only after 1 May 1942), under the , promulgated on 24 February 1942. There was a brief post-war period during the Occupation of Japan when the bank's functions were suspended, and military currency was issued. In 1949, the bank was again restructured.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In the 1970s, the bank's operating environment evolved along with the transition from a fixed foreign currency exchange rate and a rather closed economy to a large open economy with a variable exchange rate.


title: Bank of Japan

text: During the entire post-war era, until at least 1991, the Bank of Japan's monetary policy has primarily been conducted via its 'window guidance' (窓口指導) credit controls (which are the model for the Chinese central bank's primary tool of monetary policy implementation), whereby the central bank would impose bank credit growth quotas on the commercial banks. The tool was instrumental in the creation of the 'bubble economy' of the 1980s. It was implemented by the Bank of Japan's then "Business Department" (営業局), which was headed during the "bubble years" from 1986 to 1989 by Toshihiko Fukui (who became deputy governor in the 1990s and governor in 2003).


title: Bank of Japan

text: A major 1997 revision of the "" was designed to give it greater independence; however, the Bank of Japan has been criticized for already possessing excessive independence and lacking in accountability before this law was promulgated. A certain degree of dependence might be said to be enshrined in the new Law, article 4 of which states:


title: Bank of Japan

text: However, since the introduction of the new law, the Bank of Japan has rebuffed government requests to stimulate the economy.


title: Bank of Japan

text: When the Nixon shock happened in August 1971, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could have appreciated the currency in order to avoid inflation. However, they still kept the fixed exchange rate as 360Yen/$ for two weeks, so it caused excess liquidity. In addition, they persisted with the Smithsonian rate (308Yen/$), and continued monetary easing until 1973. This created a greater-than-10% inflation rate at that time. In order to control stagflation, they raised the official bank rate from 7% to 9% and skyrocketing prices gradually ended in 1978.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In 1979, when the energy crisis happened, the BOJ raised the official bank rate rapidly. The BOJ succeeded in a quick economic recovery. After overcoming the crisis, they reduced the official bank rate. In 1980, the BOJ reduced the official bank rate from 9.0% to 8.25% in August, to 7.25% in November, and to 5.5% in December in 1981. "Reaganomics" was in vogue in America and USD became strong. However, Japan tried to implement fiscal reconstruction at that time, so they did not stop their financial regulation.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In 1985, the agreement of G5 nations, known as the Plaza Accord, USD slipped down and Yen/USD changed from 240yen/$ to 200yen/$ at the end of 1985. Even in 1986, USD continued to fall and reached 160yen/$. In order to escape deflation, the BOJ cut the official bank rate from 5% to 4.5% in January, to 4.0% in March, to 3.5% in April, 3.0% in November. At the same time, the government tried to raise demand in Japan in 1985, and did economy policy in 1986. However, the market was confused about the rapid fall of USD. After the Louvre Accord in February 1987, the BOJ decreased the official bank rate from 3% to 2.5%, but JPY/USD was 140yen/$ at that time and reached 125yen/$ in the end of 1987. The BOJ kept the official bank rate at 2.5% until May in 1989. Financial and fiscal regulation led to a widespread over-valuing of real estate and investments and Japan faced a bubble at that time.


title: Bank of Japan

text: After 1990, the stock market and real asset market fell. At that time BOJ regulated markets until 1991 in order to end the bubble.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In January 1995, a terrible earthquake happened and Japanese yen became stronger and stronger. JPY/USD reached 80yen/$, so the BOJ reduced the office bank rate to 0.5% and the yen recovered. The period of deflation started at that time.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In 1999, the BOJ started zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP), but they ended it despite government opposition when the IT bubble happened in 2000. However, Japan's economic bubble burst in 2001 and the BOJ adopted the balance of current account as the main operating target for the adjustment of the financial market in March 2001 (quantitative relaxation policy), shifting from the zero-interest-rate policy. From 2003 to 2004, Japanese government did exchange intervention operation in huge amount, and the economy recovered a lot. In March 2006, BOJ finished quantitative easing, and finished the zero-interest-rate policy in June and raised to 0.25%.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In 2008, the financial crisis happened, and Japanese economy turned bad again. BOJ reduced the uncollateralized call rate to 0.3% and adopted the supplemental balance of current account policy. In December 2008, BOJ reduced uncollateralized call rate again to 0.1% and they started to buy Japanese Government Bond (JGB) along with commercial paper (CP) and corporate bonds.


title: Bank of Japan

text: In 2013, the head of the BOJ (Kuroda) announced a new quantitative easing program (QE). This program would be very large in terms of quantity, but it would also be different in terms of quality—qualitative easing (QQE). In other words, the BOJ would (and did) also purchase riskier assets like stocks and REITs.


title: Bank of Japan

text: Following the election of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in December 2012, the Bank of Japan, with Abe's urging, took proactive steps to curb deflation in Japan. On 30 October 2012, The Bank of Japan announced that it would undertake further monetary-easing action for the second time in a month. Under the leadership of new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan released a statement on 5 April 2013 announcing that it would be purchasing securities and bonds at a rate of 60-70 trillion yen a year in an attempt to double Japan's money base in two years.


title: Bank of Japan

text: But by 2016, it was apparent that three years of monetary easing had had little effect on deflation so the Bank of Japan instigated a review of its monetary stimulus program.


title: Bank of Japan

text: The Bank of Japan is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, on the site of a former gold mint (the Kinza) and, not coincidentally, near the famous Ginza district, whose name means "silver mint". The Neo-baroque Bank of Japan building in Tokyo was designed by Tatsuno Kingo in 1896.


title: Bank of Japan

text: The Osaka branch in Nakanoshima is sometimes considered as the structure which effectively symbolizes the bank as an institution.


title: Bank of Japan

text: The has considerable influence on the economic policy of the Japanese government. Japanese lawmakers endorse the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. He is seen to adopt the Reflation policy as part of Abenomics.


title: Bank of Japan

text: As of 9 April 2018, the board responsible for setting monetary policy consisted of the following 9 members:


title: Bank of Japan

text: Bank of Japan owns 4.7% of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Since 2020 it has owned more of the market than any other body.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify, a music streaming company, has attracted significant criticism since its 2006 launch, mainly over artist compensation. Unlike physical sales or downloads, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on the artist's "market share"—the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service. Spotify distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights holders, who then pay artists based on their individual agreements. Multiple artists have criticised the policy, most notably Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift, who temporarily withdrew their music from the service.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify faces particular scrutiny due to its free service tier, which allows users to listen free with advertisements between tracks. The tier has led to a variety of major album releases being delayed or withdrawn from the service. Spotify claims it benefits the industry by migrating users away from piracy and less monetized platforms and encouraging them to upgrade to paid accounts. Record labels keep a large amount of Spotify earnings.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify has also attracted media attention for several security breaches, as well as for controversial moves including a significant change to its privacy policy, "pay-for-play" practices based on receiving money from labels for putting specific songs on popular playlists, and allegedly creating "fake artists" for prominent playlist placement, which Spotify denies.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify, together with the music streaming industry in general, faces criticism from some artists and producers, claiming they are being unfairly compensated for their work as music sales decline and music streaming increases. Unlike physical sales or legal downloads, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on their "market share"—the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service. Spotify distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their individual agreements.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: The variable (and some say unsustainable) nature of this compensation, has led to criticism. In a 2009 "Guardian" article, Helienne Lindvall wrote about why "major labels love Spotify", writing that the labels receive 18% of shares from the streaming company—something that artists themselves never actually receive. She further wrote that "On Spotify, it seems, artists are not equal. There are indie labels that, as opposed to the majors and Merlin members, receive no advance, receive no minimum per stream, and only get a 50% share of ad revenue on a pro-rata basis (which so far has amounted to next to nothing)." In 2009, Swedish musician Magnus Uggla pulled his music from the service, stating that after six months he had earned "what a mediocre busker could earn in a day".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Norwegian newspaper "Dagbladet" reported in 2009 that the record label Racing Junior earned only NOK 19 (US$3.00) after their artists had been streamed over 55,100 times. According to an infographic by David McCandless, an artist on Spotify would need over four million streams per month to earn the U.S. minimum monthly wage of $1,160. In October 2011, U.S. independent label Projekt Records stated: "In the world I want to live in, I envision artists fairly compensated for their creations, because we (the audience) believe in the value of what artists create. The artist's passion, dedication, and expression is respected and rewarded. Spotify is NOT a service that does this. Projekt will not be part of this unprincipled concept."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In March 2012, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys said that "Spotify isn't fair to artists", and further commented that streaming services "are becoming more popular, but it still isn't at a point where you're able to replace royalties from record sales with the royalties from streams. For a band that makes a living selling music, it's not at a point where it's feasible for us." Replying to Spotify board member Sean Parker's claim that Spotify would make more money for the music industry than iTunes, Carney said: "That guy has $2 billion that he made from figuring out ways to steal royalties from artists, and that's the bottom line. You can't really trust anybody like that." In May 2012, British Theatre vocalist and Biffy Clyro touring guitarist Mike Vennart stated: "I'd sooner people stole my work than stream it from [Spotify]. They pay the artists virtually nothing. Literally pennies per month. Yet they make a killing. They've forced the sales way down in certain territories, which wouldn't be so bad if the bands actually got paid."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Singer David Byrne of Talking Heads criticized streaming services such as Spotify in October 2013, writing: "If artists have to rely almost exclusively on the income from these services, they'll be out of work within a year." Byrne concluded his piece by admitting "I don't have an answer." In March 2014, American funk band Vulfpeck exposed a loophole in Spotify's royalty calculation model. The band created an album titled "Sleepify", which consisted solely of silence. The band asked users to stream the album on a loop while they slept to increase the amount of money earned. The album was pulled by Spotify in April 2014, citing unspecified service violation. Vulfpeck had accumulated enough streams to result in around $20,000 in royalties before the album was pulled. In July 2015, Neil Young removed almost all of his music from Spotify and other streaming services, citing low sound quality as the primary reason. He stated that he did not think his fans deserved the low quality they were receiving, and said it was bad for his music. Young's music later returned to Spotify and other streaming services.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Worldwide, 30.000 musicians have joined the organization UnionOfMusicians (UMAW). UMAW organized protests in 31 cities in March 2021 and its campaign #JusticeAtSpotify is demanding a compensation of one cent per stream. Moreover, they are asking for a fairer redistribution system, as smaller artists are disproportionately disadvantaged on Spotify.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 29 June 2021, Digital Music News released an article titled "Spotify Executive Calls Artist 'Entitled' for Requesting Payment of One Penny Per Stream". The article covers the story of a Spotify Inventor Jim Anderson, who on 14 June 2019 responded in front of a live audience to the general allegation of unfair compensation when confronted about it by Ashley Jana, a producer/singer/songwriter who happened to be recording the event. Jim Anderson was described on the Sync Summit June 2019 Agenda as "The man who built out the system architecture of Spotify". Ashley Jana released excerpts from his response in the form of an audio recording on YouTube on 26 November 2020. Some of the comments that Jim Anderson made were the following: "So, maybe I should go down the entitlement road now? Or should I wait a few minutes?", "The problem is this. Spotify was created to solve a problem. The problem was this - piracy and music distribution. The problem was to get artists' music out there to solve a problem. The problem was not to pay people money", and "I think that Taylor Swift doesn't need .000001 cent more a stream". Following the release of the Digital Music News article, Business Insider also released their own take on the story with their article titled "Taylor Swift 'doesn't need' to earn streaming royalties according to a former Spotify boss who said the company is a distribution platform that wasn't built to pay artists money." Business Insider reported that "Spotify declined Business Insider's request for comment".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In June 2012, Charles Caldas, CEO of the Merlin Network (a representative body for over 10,000 independent labels), clarified that Spotify pays royalties to the music labels, and not the artists. According to Caldas, the payments Merlin's labels received from Spotify rose 250 percent from the year ending March 2011 to the year ending March 2012, while at the time, the revenue per user was "the highest it has been since the launch of the service". Caldas said that Merlin had observed "consistent, ongoing growth on revenue per user, revenue per stream, and the total revenue" that Spotify generates for the labels it represents. "The thing about 'Spotify doesn't pay artists enough'—Spotify doesn't pay artists... They pay labels", said Caldas.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Caldas also highlighted the issue of time lag for artists, as they are not gaining an impression of Spotify's status at the time they receive their payments. They are "getting reporting quarterly, or six-monthly, on sales that happened six months ago." Caldas explained that "royalty statements could be a year old".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In February 2015, "Music Business Worldwide" reported on a French study between music trade body SNEP and EY that concluded that major labels kept 73% of Spotify Premium payouts, while writers/publishers received 16%, and artists received 11%. Mike Masnick of Techdirt wrote: "Sure, in the past, it may have been reasonable for the labels to take on large fees for distribution, but that's when it meant manufacturing tons of plastic and vinyl, and then shipping it to thousands of record stores around the globe. In this case, there's no manufacturing, and distribution is an "upload" button."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In February 2012, "Forbes" reported on "Spotify's secret weapon": musician D. A. Wallach, member of the band Chester French and former Harvard classmate of Mark Zuckerberg. He acts as Spotify's "artist-in-residence" and helps Spotify "brainstorm artist-friendly applications that can be carved from the gusher of data it collects". One such application includes geographical data of which cities listen to artists' music the most as suitable tour locations. He told "Forbes":


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: We're working very carefully to make Spotify the most artist-friendly company that has ever existed. ... We're very interested in a high level of letting artists directly connect to their fans and manage that relationship and deliver value to their fans, and vice versa. We want to do that really elegantly, at a scale that's never existed before.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In a June interview with Hypebot, Wallach reported that $180 million of royalties was paid out in 2011 and 70% of Spotify's revenue consisted of royalty payments. Spotify's growth meant that the per-stream royalty rate doubled between the service's inception and mid-2012. He said that, at the time, compared to iTunes, the average listener spends $60 annually on music, whereas Spotify Premium users spend twice that amount. According to Wallach in 2012: "The growth of the platform is proportional to the royalty pay out, and since inception, we've already doubled the effective per play rate."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In July 2013, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich removed their band Atoms for Peace and Yorke's solo music from Spotify. In a tweet, Yorke stated: "Make no mistake—new artists you discover on #Spotify will not get paid. Meanwhile, shareholders will shortly be rolling in it. Simples." Godrich stated: "[Streaming] cannot work as a way of supporting new artists' work. Spotify and the like either have to address that fact and change the model for new releases, or else all new music producers should be bold and vote with their feet."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In an October 2013 interview with Mexican website "Sopitas", Yorke said: "I feel like as musicians, we need to fight the Spotify thing. I feel that, in some ways, what's happening in the mainstream is the last gasp of the old industry. Once that does finally die, which it will, something else will happen." He described Spotify as "the last desperate fart of a dying corpse". Spotify responded in a statement that it was "still in the early stages of a long-term project that's already having a hugely positive effect on artists and new music", and that it is "100% committed to making Spotify the most artist-friendly music service possible, and are constantly talking to artists and managers about how Spotify can help build their career". In 2015, Brian Message, partner at Radiohead's management company Courtyard Management, stated that he disagreed with Yorke, noting that Spotify pays 70 percent of its revenue back to the music industry. He said that "Thom's issue was that the pipe has become so jammed ... We encourage all of our artists to take a long-term approach ... Plan for the long term, understand that it's a tough game."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 17 June 2016, Radiohead's ninth album, "A Moon Shaped Pool", was made available on Spotify, six weeks after it was released on paid-for streaming services including Apple Music and Tidal and Deezer. Spotify had been in "advanced discussions" with Radiohead's management and label to make "A Moon Shaped Pool" the first album available exclusively to Spotify's paid subscribers, but no agreement was reached. Spotify spokesperson Jonathan Prince stated: "Some of the approaches we explored with Radiohead were new, and we ultimately decided that we couldn't deliver on those approaches technologically in time for the album's release schedule." "In Rainbows", the only other Radiohead album not previously available on Spotify, was added on 10 June 2016. Yorke's solo material and Atoms for Peace were re-added in December 2017.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In July 2014, Taylor Swift wrote an article in "The Wall Street Journal" in which she stated: "Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art." On 3 November 2014, Swift removed her discography from Spotify. Swift had previously delayed the streaming of her 2012 album "Red". Swift stated: "I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify launched a social media campaign to persuade Swift to return and, in a statement on its website, claimed that nearly 16 million of over 40 million users had played her music in the preceding 30-day period. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote: "Taylor Swift is absolutely right; music is art, art has real value, and artists deserve to be paid for it. ... At our current size, payouts for a top artist like Taylor Swift (before she pulled her catalog) are on track to exceed $6 million a year." However, Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records (Swift's label), disputed those figures, and claimed that Swift had received "less than $500,000" in the past 12 months of domestic streaming of her songs. A Spotify spokesperson disputed this, telling "Time" that the total payout for Swift's streaming was $2 million globally.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: According to Ben Popper of "The Verge," Borchetta's figure of $500,000 only covered Spotify's payment for Taylor Swift streams in the US, which is not its largest market. Regarding the $6 million figure, Popper wrote: "As more people sign up for Spotify and Taylor Swift continues her march towards infinite popularity, the amount she is getting paid is increasing. [Ek] took her trend line and ran it forward a year to get to the highest possible number he could quote."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: According to Borchetta, the amount Swift earned from streaming her videos on Vevo was greater than the payout she received from Spotify. He told "Time": "The facts show that the music industry was much better off before Spotify hit these shores ... Don't forget this is for the most successful artist in music today. What about the rest of the artists out there struggling to make a career? Over the last year, what Spotify has paid is the equivalent of less than 50,000 albums sold."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Borchetta said in a February 2015 interview that Swift's catalog would be permitted on a streaming service "that understands the different needs that we [Swift and Big Machine Records] have," whereby "the choice to be [on the free, ad-supported tier] or not" is provided. Borchetta argued that Swift's musical oeuvre is "arguably the most important current catalog there is", and stated that the streaming issue is "about each individual artist, and the real mission here is to bring ... attention to it." In November 2014, Borchetta stated in a radio interview that "If this fan went and purchased the record, CD, iTunes, wherever, and then their friends go, 'Why did you pay for it? It's free on Spotify', we're being completely disrespectful to that superfan."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In December 2015, a bootleg release of Swift's song, "I Knew You Were Trouble", appeared on Spotify credited to Welsh rock band Lostprophets. The release was removed three days later.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In an interview with "Music Week" in November 2016, Spotify's UK head of content programming George Ergatoudis said: "I've got every reason to be very optimistic Taylor Swift will be coming back to Spotify. I'm not saying it's done, but the indications are good, put it like that".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Swift collaborated with Zayn Malik for the song "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" for the movie "Fifty Shades Darker". The song, released in December 2016, was withheld from Spotify for one week after its original release on competing streaming services.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In June 2017, it was announced that Swift's full catalog would be released on all streaming services, including Spotify. On social media, Swift's management team stated: "In celebration of "1989" selling over 10 million albums worldwide and the RIAA's 100 million song certification, Taylor wants to thank her fans by making her entire back catalog available to all streaming services." "Rolling Stone" questioned whether the move to allow her music on all streaming services was permanent. On 25 August 2017, Swift released her single "Look What You Made Me Do"; it was made available on Spotify immediately following release. However, her sixth studio album, "Reputation", featuring "Look What You Made Me Do", was withheld from all streaming services after its 10 November release date, being made available for streaming on 1 December 2017. All releases by Swift since, including "Lover", "Folklore", "Evermore", "Midnights", the re-recorded "Fearless" and "Red" were all released to Spotify immediately following their release.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify states in its support pages that: "We want all the world's music on Spotify. However, some artists and tracks are not currently available. Sometimes agreements can't be reached with the artist or label, or a change may happen in music ownership." Furthermore, in its apps, Spotify states a message for unavailable content: "The artist or their representatives have decided not to release this album on Spotify. We are working on it and hope they will change their mind soon."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In December 2015, Coldplay withheld "A Head Full of Dreams" from Spotify until one week after its release, citing that all music on Spotify is available to both paid and free users. Coldplay previously delayed their album "Ghost Stories" from all streaming services for four months after CD, vinyl and download release, and did the same with its earlier album "Mylo Xyloto".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Beyoncé's self-titled album was not available until 24 November 2014, nearly a year after its original release. Adele's "21" was not initially available on Spotify, as Adele wanted Spotify to make her album available to paid subscribers only, but not to free users. Spotify declined her offer to avoid creating separate catalogues for subscribers and non-subscribers. The album, originally released in January 2011, became available to stream 17 months later in June 2012. In November 2015, the singer confirmed that her new album, "25", wouldn't be available for streaming on any service. In a series of interviews with "Time", Adele stated: "I know that streaming music is the future, but it's not the only way to consume music. ... I can't pledge allegiance to something that I don't know how I feel about yet." However, the album was made available for streaming seven months later, in June 2016.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Several bands from the 1960s and 1970s delayed their work being made available on Spotify or any streaming services. Until the end of 2013, Led Zeppelin's music was not available, before the parties reached an agreement in December. In 2015, AC/DC and The Beatles allowed their music on streaming services. In 2018, many songs from the album "Get Happy!!" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions were removed from the site, including "New Amsterdam" and many others.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Icelandic singer Björk initially chose not to release her album "Vulnicura" on Spotify, saying: "This streaming thing just does not feel right. I don't know why, but it just seems insane. ... To work on something for two or three years and then just, 'Oh, here it is for free.' It's not about the money; it's about respect, you know? Respect for the craft and the amount of work you put into it."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In February 2017, Prince's music produced under the Warner Bros. label, including the albums "1999", "Purple Rain", "Dirty Mind", and "Sign o' the Times", became available on Spotify and other streaming services.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In April 2017, rapper Jay Z, part-owner of streaming service Tidal, pulled his music catalog from Spotify and Apple Music. This was the third time the artist removed his albums from competing services, following the release of his debut album "Reasonable Doubt", and later "The Blueprint". On 4 December 2019, Jay Z's entire catalogue returned to Spotify after a two-year absence in honour of his 50th birthday.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In February 2019, Spotify premiered in India without the catalogue of Warner Music Group and its publishing division Warner/Chappell Music. Warner Music sued Spotify for using a statutory license, which applied to radio stations. In January 2020, Spotify signed a global publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. On 1 April 2020, Warner Music and Spotify ended the dispute by signing a global deal for the company's recording artists.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 2 August 2019, progressive metal band Tool's catalog premiered on Spotify and other digital services for the first time.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In January 2021, Spotify removed nearly 750,000 tracks from its catalogue for having fraudulent stream totals. Distributor DistroKid has offered a counter-notification process for artists whose music was removed from Spotify.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 1 March 2021, due to the expiring distribution deal, K-pop songs and releases distributed by Kakao M were removed from Spotify. According to the statement released by Kakao M, Spotify were claimed as the party who chose not to renew the deal. On 11 March 2021, Kakao M renewed its distribution deal with Spotify.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 5 August 2021, Blackground Records partnered with Empire Distribution to re-release most of its discography, most notably the catalogue of R&B singer Aaliyah. On 20 August 2021, Aaliyah's second album, "One in a Million", debuted on Spotify. Before 2021, all of Aaliyah's Blackground albums (except for her 1994 debut album "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number") had never been released digitally because her uncle/manager, Barry Hankerson, had let those releases go out of print.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In December 2021, Spotify removed albums by hundreds of comedians because of unpaid composition royalties. The comedians are represented by Spoken Giants, an administration company for spoken-word compositions.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: De La Soul, Garth Brooks and Joanna Newsom are some of the few major artists still missing from Spotify. In De La Soul's case, the group did not believe that their label Tommy Boy Records was offering a fair deal, as well as the cost of re-clearing the samples. Brooks has an exclusive deal with Amazon Music, while Newsom's main catalogue is not available on Spotify. She said that the streaming platform is "the banana of the music industry" and calls it "the villainous cabal of major labels". The only song available on Spotify by Newsom is her cover of "The Muppet Show"'s theme song, from the soundtrack of the 2011 film "The Muppets."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In August 2015, Spotify changed its terms and privacy policy, expanding Spotify's lawful access to media and location data stored on user devices. Initial concerns were raised about the policy being "far too broad without examples or vital context and detail around the data gathering the service is implementing", something Ek ascribed to poor communication from Spotify about the implications of the policy change. "The Verge" has criticised "Wired"'s coverage (which was republished by "Gizmodo") to the policy change, citing a lack of context in their reporting in terms of failing to mention opt-out and explicit consent clauses, describing it as an "overreaction", as "FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)", and fearmongering.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In response to concerns about the change, Ek tweeted a list of specific scenarios when this data is needed. For example, he described that access to photos is needed to upload playlist covers, and contacts for sharing tracks. Later, Ek published a post on the Spotify blog explicitly listing out the times when Spotify may ask to access this data, apologising for poor communication, and reiterating a "100 percent commit[ment] to protecting" user privacy.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In August 2015, "Billboard" reported that Spotify was among the streaming services influenced by "pay for play", in which labels pay for songs to be placed on popular playlists followed by many users. Daniel Glass, executive of Glassnote Records, stated that playlist promotion was "a very, very big deal". "Billboard" referenced an 5 August practice, in which Universal Music Group hired Jay Frank as its Senior Vice President of Global Streaming Marketing, followed by an investment in Frank's marketing firm DigMark, "an innovator" in pay-for-play practices that charges clients US$2,000 for a six-week campaign. The price goes up for playlists followed by more users, up to US$10,000. "For a while, Spotify didn't take a view" on the practice, according to a music label executive, but its then-new Terms of Service agreements would "[take] a stand against commercializing accounts and playlists by rank-and-file users", as well as prohibit the practice of "accepting any compensation, financial or otherwise, to influence ... the content included on an account or playlist". However, "Billboard" wrote that "policing, let alone enforcing, these terms could be difficult", adding that loopholes can still be exploited to continue the practice.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In June 2018, allegations resurfaced after the release of Drake's new album "Scorpion". According to users the songs of the artist were included in various playlists, some that were unrelated to the genre of their songs, such as gospel, ambient music and "best of British" (Drake is from Canada, not Britain). Heavy criticism followed, with reports of some paying Spotify subscribers demanding refunds or unsubscribing. One of them reported to call the Federal Trade Commission to report advertising fraud.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In August 2016, "Music Business Worldwide" reported that Spotify had begun paying producers to create music and placing the tracks on highly followed and popular playlists on the service. The production of the music, reportedly paid for by Spotify, was published on the service using fake artist names, and the motivation behind the practice reportedly due to creating tracks to "quality control" the mood of specific playlists and gain more favorable royalty rates than major and independent labels offer. However, the implications of the practice meant certain rightsholders who normally earned decent payouts from being featured on such playlists were excluded. After being mentioned in an article by "Vulture" in July 2017, a Spotify spokesperson told "Billboard" that "We do not and have never created 'fake' artists and put them on Spotify playlists. Categorically untrue, full stop [...] We pay royalties—sound and publishing—for all tracks on Spotify, and for everything we playlist. We do not own rights, we're not a label, all our music is licensed from rightsholders and we pay them—we don't pay ourselves". However, in another report, the "Music Business Worldwide" publication discussed the situation, including the artists' lack of social media profiles, lack of managers, lawyers and industry relationships, the listing of owning all their own rights, the lack of appearance on other streaming services, Spotify's denial to comment regarding questions of the artists' frequent placement on playlists, royalty rates and recommendation origins, and anonymous comments from "very senior figures in the music business" with alleged knowledge of the practice. The publication listed 50 of the top artists under suspicion, and asked them to contact the publication to verify their authenticity, adding that "We're pretty sure A&R teams from across the globe would love to hear about artists with no online presence who have managed to rack up millions of Spotify plays with their first few tracks".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In August 2017, Spotify announced that it would remove music that promotes white nationalism from its catalogue.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In May 2018, Spotify attracted criticism for its "Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy" that removed the music of R. Kelly, Tay-K, and XXXTentacion from its editorial and algorithmic playlists. A spokesperson for Spotify stated, "when we look at promotion, we look at issues around hateful conduct, where you have an artist or another creator who has done something off-platform that is so particularly out of line with our values, egregious, in a way that it becomes something that we don't want to associate ourselves with." R. Kelly has faced accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct since the 1990s, and was later found guilty of multiple counts relating to child sexual abuse and sex trafficking in 2021. Tay-K was arrested for second-degree murder in 2016 and was found guilty in 2019, and had additionally been arrested for capital murder in 2017, which he is still awaiting trial for. Before XXXTentacion's murder, he was awaiting trial for multiple domestic violence-related charges.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: The decision to remove XXXTentacion from playlisting was criticized, with many pointing out that R. Kelly and Tay-K's crimes of sexual abuse and murder were far more serious than the allegations levied against XXXTentacion. Additionally, XXXTentacion and his team responded criticizing the decision, adding that artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Dr. Dre, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson were not being censored despite more severe allegations being levied against them than the ones brought against XXXTentacion. The decision to remove XXXTentacion's music from curated playlists was reversed after Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith threatened to remove his label's music from the service, with Top Dawg artist Kendrick Lamar additionally threatening to remove his entire discography from the service if XXXTentacion's music was not reinstated into Spotify programming. Spotify eventually relented, and the decision to remove XXXTentacion's music specifically was revoked in June because the company deemed the original wording to be too "vague". Spotify moved to reduce the impact of artists' conduct on their inclusion and promotion on the platform, saying that it isn't the company's purpose to regulate behaviour. R. Kelly and Tay-K's music, however, remained removed from programming.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In April 2021, Spotify announced the removal of 42 "The Joe Rogan Experience" episodes from their catalog including interviews with Alex Jones, Bulletproof Coffee founder Dave Asprey expressing anti-aging claims of his product, crude jokes, and interviews with Chris D'Elia. In May 2020, Spotify paid an estimated $100 million for the exclusive rights to the podcast library.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In March 2009, Spotify warned users that a security flaw discovered and fixed in December 2008 was more serious than previously thought, having compromised the password hashes of individual users in Spotify's pre-December 2008 customer base, as well as potentially "registration information such as your email address, birth date, gender, postal code and billing receipt details". Credit card information was not exposed, due to being handled by a secure third-party provider. Spotify advised users to change their passwords, especially in cases where the same password was used for multiple sites.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In March 2011, Spotify temporarily removed display advertising on its computer software, after reports from users on the free service tier that a malicious advertisement had infected their systems. Then-named security firm Websense stated that the attack used the Blackhole exploit kit. Spotify said in a statement that "Users with anti-virus software will have been protected", and "We sincerely apologise to any users affected. We'll continue working hard to ensure this does not happen again and that our users enjoy Spotify securely and in confidence."


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In May 2014, Spotify announced it had been hacked, but stated that only one user's information was accessed. It released a new Spotify app on the Android platform, replacing the former app, with Spotify chief technology officer Oskar Stål writing in a blog post that the upgrade was "a necessary precaution" and that no action for apps on other platforms were necessary.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify is one of the few music streaming services that do not allow users to filter explicit content, which Rick Broida of "CNET" writes "may prevent users from opting into Spotify's Family Plan subscription offering".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: However, in April 2018, Spotify added the explicit filter for lyrics to mobile and tablet versions, but still displays explicit album art to all users. As of 2021, there is a setting for explicit music for Windows.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: Spotify used to limit users' music libraries to 10,000 songs. This caused negative publicity on several occasions and "years of user complaints". Derek Mead of "Motherboard" wrote in March 2016 that the limit was "insane", and suggested that Spotify, after raising "another billion dollars" in funding, should "fix the service's most asinine limitation". Chris Welch of "The Verge" wrote in May 2017 that "It's time for Spotify to stop capping how much music you can save", further questioning "Why is there such an arbitrary cap?" Welch's article also highlighted the "thousands of votes from users" on Spotify's community forum asking for a higher limit, and attached a reply from a company representative, stating "At the moment, we don't have plans to extend the "Your Music" limit. The reason is because less than 1% of users reach it. The current limit ensures a great experience for 99% of users instead of an "OK" experience for 100%".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 26 May 2020, Spotify relented on their decision and decided to not limit user music libraries to 10,000 songs & albums. The new system only applies to the ability to save songs and albums to user's Spotify library. Individual playlists are still limited to 10,000 songs, and users can still only download up to 10,000 songs on each of their five different devices for offline listening.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 27 June 2018, Spotify held a "takeover" promotion (dubbed "Scorpion SZN") to promote the release of Drake's fifth studio album "Scorpion". During the promotion, many of the service's curated playlists had their cover art modified to include photos of Drake, even if the playlist's topic was not associated with Drake's music. The campaign faced criticism from some users, who felt that it was excessive (especially to users not necessarily interested in Drake's music), and contradictory to Spotify Premium being promoted as an ad-free service. It was reported that some users had successfully received refunds after complaining about the promotion.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In September 2013, Ministry of Sound sued Spotify, alleging that user playlists mimicking the track listings of their compilation albums were infringing on the copyrights of the albums themselves (citing the skill and effort in their compilation).


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In 2014, the two parties reached a settlement, under which Spotify agreed to restrict the ability to search for or follow the infringing playlists.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In 2020, Spotify received criticism from anti-misinformation groups when conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on "The Joe Rogan Experience".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: In January 2022, 270 scientists, physicians, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over "false and societally harmful assertions" on "The Joe Rogan Experience" and asked Spotify to "establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform." The 270 signatories took issue with Joe Rogan "broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic", and more specifically "a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories", including "an unfounded theory that societal leaders have 'hypnotized' the public." The signatories further assert that "Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous." The signatories also note that Malone was suspended from Twitter "for spreading misinformation about COVID-19".


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 25 January 2022, Neil Young demanded that his music be removed from Spotify, over the Joe Rogan COVID-19 misinformation. The following day, while siding with Rogan, Spotify announced that it will remove all of Young's music at his request, stating it regretted Young's decision, and hoped to “welcome him back soon.” On 28 January, Joni Mitchell announced that she will remove her music from Spotify in support of Young. On 29 January, James Blunt joked on Twitter that he would release his music on Spotify unless they remove "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast off the platform, while Nils Lofgren announced he will pull his music off from Spotify in support of Young. Podcaster and author Brené Brown also announced that she will not release any Spotify-exclusive podcasts until further notice. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who signed a multi-year partnership with Spotify, stated that since April 2021 they had also begun "expressing concerns" over COVID-19 misinformation on the platform. On 30 January, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that Spotify will place advisory warnings on podcasts that discusses COVID-19 on the platform which will redirect to an information hub on COVID-19.


title: Criticism of Spotify

text: On 9 November 2021, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that Prima Materia, his investment company, was donating €100 million (US$115 million) into Helsing, a European defense AI company. Ek also joined Helsing's board along with its co-founders Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler. Helsing, writes Connie Lin, "engineers software that pieces together a real-time picture of an 'operational environment' by organizing unstructured data from multiple sensors on vehicles and systems—such as tanks, drones, or satellites—including video feeds, thermal imaging, and sonar and radar frequencies" which "could be valuable for military reconnaissance by helping officers assess battlefield combat situations or identify critical targets." The German DJ and techno producer Skee Mask urged his nearly 17,000 Twitter followers not to give their "last penny to such a wealthy business that obviously prefers the development of warfare instead of actual progression in the music business." According to Sameer Gupta, a percussionist based in Brooklyn, New York, "All that money that's being taken from artists and musicians is being funneled to this," referring to Helsing. "I don't know a single musician who would ever say, 'That's the function of music.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a 2014 horror adventure video game developed and published by The Astronauts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" is set in an open world environment, in which the player can roam around and explore at will; in its opening the game notes that it "does not hold [the player's] hand", and as such features very little by way of explanation to the mechanics.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: To piece together the story, the player must solve the deaths of the Carter family. Upon finding a dead body, the player can use paranormal abilities in order to recreate the events: first it must sense where important objects are located and restore the scene to its original state, and then reassemble the timeline of events tied to a certain death.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: The game also features additional "stories" that must be fully uncovered for the game to receive its final ending; some of these are puzzles, others are more akin to a stealth game which cause the game to be over if the player fails.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: In 1973, paranormal investigator Paul Prospero receives a fan letter from 12-year-old Ethan Carter, inspiring him to journey to Ethan's hometown of Red Creek Valley, Wisconsin. Upon arrival, he learns Ethan has gone missing and begins encountering unsettling paranormal phenomena, as well as evidence of recent violence in the tiny mining village.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: As his investigation progresses, Prospero learns the Carter family's dark secret: Ethan had released a malevolent spirit known as the Sleeper through witchcraft, threatening their lives. When his uncle Chad and mother Missy tried to sacrifice him to appease the Sleeper, Ethan escaped with the help of his father Dale; Missy then killed Chad when he attacked Dale, and Dale later killed Missy. Dale then committed suicide in an effort to not become a vessel of the Sleeper as Ethan's older brother Travis now was. Travis turns on Ethan, forcing his grandfather Ed to kill Travis. Ethan and Ed try to destroy the Sleeper's chambers, but Ed traps Ethan inside the chamber and waits to die outside as Ethan sets a fire within. Prospero finds Ethan, but he suddenly vanishes after they both realise Prospero was too late.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: If Prospero has uncovered all of Ethan's stories around the world, then using an elaborate mural created by Ethan, Prospero discovers that he is in fact a figment of Ethan's imagination. The cult of the Sleeper was an invention, as were the deaths of the family members during Prospero's investigation. Ethan had built a sanctuary inside a mansion in town to escape his family, particularly his overbearing mother, and abusive brother and uncle. When his mother accidentally sets the mansion on fire, trapping Ethan in the room with no way to save himself, he summons Prospero to provide comfort as he's consumed by the smoke by enacting a fictitious series of events. Having fulfilled his purpose, Prospero tells Ethan to let go, and that a new story awaits before both of them fade from the world.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: The game was developed by three former People Can Fly employees, who had previously worked on first-person shooter video games with the company. The team was interested in moving into more story-heavy games. They almost released "Come Midnight" as a collaboration with THQ, although ultimately this was canceled. Upon forming their own company, The Astronauts, the team had the freedom they needed to work on such a game.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: From the start the game was always going to be focused on horror. In dissecting the genre, lead designer Adrian Chmielarz discovered the genre of weird fiction and took inspiration from "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Although he stated that he had the basic idea in mind prior to reading it, the story helped solidify the concept in Chmielarz's mind.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: Feeling that settings in games inherently felt "a bit artificial", the team instead were inspired by nature to create a more natural-feeling world. The setting in particular takes inspiration from the Polish Karkonosze mountains. Chmielarz described the game as being "shot" there. The team used photogrammetry technology in order to create the in-game environment and make it look like the mountain range.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" received positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PlayStation 4 version 81/100 based on 33 reviews, and the Microsoft Windows version 82/100 based on 66 reviews. The game sold 60,000 copies in its first month on sale. As of December 2017, the game has sold over a million copies.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: Julian Aidan from "Hardcore Gamer" praised its well-designed open world, visuals and story, but criticized the gameplay for being too linear, as well as finding the narrative aspect of the game weak. Shaun McInnis from "GameSpot" praised the simple yet enjoyable puzzle-solving, captivating story, outstanding graphics and breathtaking environments, but criticized its weird and vague auto-save system. Christopher Livingston from "PC Gamer" also criticized the save system, but praised the decent voice acting, enjoyable puzzle-solving, as well as the intriguing, satisfying, and wonderfully restrained story.


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" received the Best Game Innovation Awards at 2015's British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA).


title: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

text: "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" was ported to Unreal Engine 4, and was released for the PlayStation 4 on July 15, 2015. The Unreal Engine 4 port was released for the PC on September 11, 2015, under the title "Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux". Apart from the new engine, the revised version includes a new save system, and eliminates the backtracking from the ending sequence of the game.


title: Makgatho Mandela

text: Makgatho Lewanika Mandela (26 June 1950 – 6 January 2005) was the son of Nelson Mandela and his first wife Evelyn Mase. He is the father of Ndaba Mandela. He died of AIDS on 6 January 2005 in Johannesburg.


title: Makgatho Mandela

text: His second wife Zondi died on 13 July 2003 at age 46. At first, her cause of death was given as pneumonia; after Makgatho's death, his son from his previous marriage Mandla later announced that her pneumonia had been a complication of AIDS.


title: Makgatho Mandela

text: When Nelson Mandela announced the cause of his son's death, he said: "Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like tuberculosis, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary."


title: Makgatho Mandela

text: He was married twice. His first wife was Rose Rayne Perry (later known as Nolusapho). His second wife was Zondi. He had four sons: Zwelivelile "Mandla" (1974), Ndaba Mandela (1982), Mbuso Mandela (1991) and Andile Mandela (1993). Makgatho Mandela is sometimes wrongly referred to as the older son of Nelson Mandela, but his brother Madiba Thembekile "Thembi" Mandela was born in 1945. Thembi was killed in a car crash in 1969.


title: Makgatho Mandela

text: Due to Nelson Mandela having renounced his hereditary claim and Thembi's early death, Makgatho rose to become heir apparent to the chieftaincy that had once been held by Henry Mandela, Nelson's father. Upon his own death, his claim passed to his son Mandla, who eventually succeeded to the title.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Overpressure ammunition, commonly designated as +P or +P+, is small arms ammunition that has been loaded to produce a higher internal pressure when fired than is standard for ammunition of its caliber (see internal ballistics), but less than the pressures generated by a proof round. This is done typically to produce rounds with a higher muzzle velocity and stopping power, such as ammunition used for defensive or hunting purposes. Because of this, +P ammunition is typically found in handgun calibers which might be used for defensive purposes.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Magnum cartridges, such as the .357 Magnum, are usually developed by greatly increasing the working pressure of an existing cartridge, and the resulting cartridges are typically different in some small manner to prevent them from being chambered in firearms not specifically designed for them. For example, the .357 Magnum is slightly longer than the .38 Special, which is the parent cartridge of lower pressure from which it was derived. +P ammunition, however, is externally identical to standard ammunition of its caliber. +P ammunition is not recommended to be used in firearms of questionable quality or in a state of disrepair.usually because the extra chamber pressure may cause hazards or malfunctions


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: The burning characteristics of black powder used in early cartridges meant that these cartridges operated at low pressures, generally under ~25,000 psi. These cartridges were limited by their case capacity, and the only way to get more power was to increase the case dimensions to hold more powder; this can be seen in firearms such as those made by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company, which made rifles with nominal powder capacities from 70 grains (.45-70) to 110 grains (.45-110).


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: With the advent of smokeless powder, which has a far greater energy density than black powder, it was possible to generate far more power in the large cases of the older black-powder cartridges. Cartridges such as the .32-20 Winchester and .44-40 Winchester were chambered in both revolvers and lever action rifles, and the rifles' actions could handle much higher pressures. This led to "machine gun only" loads in these calibers, which provided far more velocity and energy in the rifles, but were not safe in the revolvers due to the higher pressures they generated. These loads were eventually dropped due to a combination of safety concerns, and new smokeless rifle cartridges that offered even higher velocities, such as the .30-30 Winchester.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: The first modern smokeless powder cartridge deliberately loaded by a major manufacturer to higher than standard pressure was the .38 ACP, originally introduced in 1900. This cartridge provided performance similar to other .38 caliber cartridges of the time. However, in 1929 the cartridge was redesigned as the .38 Super Automatic, or just .38 Super, along with a significant increase in operating pressure and muzzle energy, making it the most powerful auto pistol cartridge available, in both energy and velocity, for many years. Like the "rifle only" loads, the .38 Super could still be chambered in the older .38 ACP guns, producing a dangerous combination. Capable of reaching a muzzle energy of 500 ft-lbs, the .38 Super remains a viable defensive cartridge, though it is most popular in shooting sports such as IPSC. A similar move to a high pressure loading was done on the .38 Special in 1930, producing the .38-44 HV loadings, and eventually leading to the development and production of the .357 Magnum in 1935.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: In the United States, standards related to arms and ammunition are maintained and published by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI), which publishes standard internal pressures of calibers, formerly measured in copper units of pressure and currently in psi based on piezoelectric instrumentation. Official +P pressures are established by the SAAMI for certain cartridges; in general the +P pressure is approximately 10% higher than the standard pressure (see chart below). SAAMI does not have a +P+ pressure standard, but this indicates a pressure higher than the +P loading, approximately 25% higher than the standard pressure. In both cases this is below the pressure of a proof test cartridge. Proof pressures are established by the SAAMI, as a percentage of the working pressure, so this places an upper bound on the +P+ pressures of 30–40%. By way of comparison, magnum calibers may be loaded to nearly twice the pressure of the rounds from which they were derived. Overpressure rounds are commonly defensive rounds and are loaded by police and others in need of maximum power in a compact firearm. Accordingly, most overpressure rounds are hollow points or other types of expanding ammunition.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: "Higher pressure" is not the same as "high pressure"; +P cartridges are generally loaded to pressures far below those typically found in magnum cartridges. The +P standard is designed so that if a shooter were to accidentally use a +P cartridge in a non +P rated firearm, the chance of a one-time explosive failure is minimal as long as the gun was in good physical condition. Repeated firing of +P ammunition in a gun not rated for it will drastically speed mechanical failure of the gun, however, and so it should only be used in firearms designated by the manufacturer as safe for +P use.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Cartridges that are commonly improved with +P pressures are the 9mm Parabellum, .38 Special, .45 ACP, .38 ACP, and .257 Roberts which are all cartridges that date from the late 19th and the early 20th century. There has been significant improvement in metallurgy and quality since the first guns in those calibers have been made, with the result that higher pressures are now safe in modern firearms. Many models will specify the degree to which they can use +P ammunition; for example, many aluminum alloy framed .38 Special revolvers should not regularly be used with +P ammunition, for while the cylinder is capable of withstanding the pressures, the added force will increase wear and reduce the service life of the gun.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: The +P+ designation is not currently used by SAAMI, but is used by some manufacturers to designate loads that exceed the +P SAAMI specifications. One source lists the 9×19mm +P+ loading as having a pressure of 42,000 psi, a 20% increase over the standard pressure of 35,000 psi, and the .38 Special +P+ as 22,000 psi, a 25.71% increase over the standard pressure of 17,500 psi.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Small ammunition makers and reloading guides will often include special loads for specific purposes, such as the below listed .45 Colt load from Buffalo Bore Ammunition. These loads are generally designed to provide maximum performance from older cartridges, when used in newer, stronger firearms. The 14,000 psi limit for .45 Colt, for example, reflects the black powder performance of the round, and is safe even in firearms built in 1873, when the cartridge was introduced. Using modern, solid head brass in a Ruger Blackhawk revolver, a similar design originally chambered in the high pressure .44 Magnum, the pressure can be pushed far higher with no ill effects. However, since these loads, with nearly double the pressure, could destroy a firearm intended for black powder level loads, they are less commonly encountered.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Some older cartridges, especially those that were originally black-powder cartridges, such as the .45 Colt (1873) and .45-70 (1873), are capable of being loaded to far higher levels than was originally possible. Because modern firearms are much stronger than the original black powder era firearms (for example, many .45 Colt guns are built on the same frame as .44 Magnum versions) a combination of modern firearm and specially loaded ammunition can provide performance to rival modern cartridges. However, these high-pressure loading can only be used in modern firearms. Because of the potential danger in shooting these "unofficial magnum" cartridges, they are generally only available if handloaded or purchased from low-volume specialty manufacturers. SAAMI specifications may or may not exist for these loads, so extra caution must be used. Generally, the manufacturer or data publisher will specify exactly which makes and/or models of firearm can or cannot be safely used with a given load, such as ""Only for use in Ruger and Thompson/Center Contenders"", ""Use only in modern Marlin and Winchester repeating actions"" or ""Ruger No. 1 and No. 3"".


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: In many cases, these loads are not pressure tested, but are tested by firing in particular firearms, then checked for signs of excessive pressure. In some cases, high pressure ammunition is restricted to law enforcement sales, such as Federal's .38 Special +P+ and 9mm Parabellum +P+ Hydra-Shok cartridges. The following table lists some non-SAAMI +P loads for which the manufacturer publishes pressure information.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Unless the firearm is explicitly marked as being +P rated or it is clearly stated in the gun's manual, +P ammunition should not be used. If in doubt, a check by a gunsmith or contacting the gun's manufacturer will verify the safety of +P ammunition in a particular firearm. Ammunition that is loaded to +P pressures is clearly marked on the headstamp as such, for example a 9mm would be marked "9mm Parabellum +P".


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: The use of +P or +P+ ammunition does accelerate wear and reduces the service life on the component parts on any pistol.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: In addition to questions of safety and durability are issues of reliability and usability. Since +P cartridges may generate a significantly different quality of recoil, this can affect firearm function. For example, recoil operated firearms may fail to function if the velocity of the recoiling parts is too high; in lightweight revolvers, the cartridge case may recoil away from the bullet with sufficient force to overcome the crimp, allowing the bullet to move forward in the cylinder and causing the cylinder to bind. The increased velocities and pressures of a +P loading will increase muzzle blast and recoil, and may prove difficult to handle for many shooters; these problems are exacerbated by compact, lightweight guns with short barrels.


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: In general, the purpose of a +P cartridge is to get a higher velocity for a given bullet weight than a standard pressure cartridge. However, the pressure rating used to determine if a round is +P is the peak pressure, which is not an accurate indication of the velocity, since it is the area under the pressure curve that determines the total energy imparted to the bullet (see internal ballistics). A large number of factors can impact the peak pressure of a load, such as:


title: Overpressure ammunition

text: Because of these factors, it is possible to have two loads where each is propelling the same bullet weight at the same velocity, but one is a standard pressure load and one is a +P load. Even in the same firearm, with the same components, cartridges with low powder capacity and high operating pressures, such as the .40 S&W, have been shown to have a significant increase in pressure with very minor differences in bullet seating depth. One example in .40 S&W demonstrated a 20% pressure increase with a 0.05 inch (1.2 mm) change in seating depth.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: WWF Brawl for All was a shootfighting tournament held in the then World Wrestling Federation that lasted from June 29, 1998 to August 24, 1998 and was the creation of then-WWF writer Vince Russo. Brawl for All resulted in a number of legitimate injuries for WWF performers, and has garnered criticism.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Throughout 1998, the WWF experienced a growth in roster size but due to limited amount of television time a number of their more genuine "tough guys" were left without much to do. As a result, the idea for a legitimate tough guy tournament was bandied about as a way to both utilize some of these men and capitalize on the recent interest in Toughman Contests around the country.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: According to John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Vince Russo came up with the idea when Layfield wanted to create a hardcore wrestling division in the WWF. Russo said he devised the tournament as a consequence of Bradshaw claiming he could beat anyone on the roster in a bar fight. Jim Cornette also reported that it was Russo's idea. Participation in the tournament was strictly voluntary.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Bruce Prichard stated on his Podcast Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, that when he was presented with the idea, he thought it was "the stupidest, worst idea he had ever heard". He was later reprimanded for being so negative to the Brawl for All concept.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Each match consisted of three one-minute rounds. Whichever wrestler connected with the most punches per round scored 5 points. In addition, a clean takedown scored 5 points and a knockdown was worth 10. If a wrestler was knocked out (decided by an eight-count rather than a ten-count), the match ended. The matches were scored by ringside judges including Gorilla Monsoon.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: According to Jim Cornette, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams was the WWF's favorite to win the tournament, with the company looking towards a lucrative pay-per-view match between Williams and Stone Cold Steve Austin; Bob Holly claimed that Williams had already been paid the $100,000 prize money before his second round fight against Bart Gunn. During the third round of the fight, Gunn took Williams down, injuring Williams's hamstring, and knocked Williams out seconds later. Bart Gunn went on to defeat Bradshaw by KO on the August 24, 1998 episode of "Raw is War" to win the tournament and $75,000. Bradshaw received $25,000.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: The WWF roster at the time had two well-known former UFC fighters, Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. Shamrock declined the opportunity to take part, while Severn defeated The Godfather in the first round but then withdrew from the tournament, stating he had nothing to prove. In a radio interview, Severn asserted that the WWF at first had not allowed him or Shamrock to compete at all and that they removed Severn from the tournament after his first-round victory over The Godfather. However, Steve Williams recalls Shamrock "backing out" and Severn withdrawing because of his "frustration at the rules and the idea of having to wear boxing gloves".


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Along with Williams, a number of other wrestlers sustained legitimate injuries during the tournament. These included the Godfather, Steve Blackman, Road Warrior Hawk, Savio Vega and Brakkus.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Fans in attendance immediately voiced their disapproval of the tournament with chants of "Boring!" and "We want wrestling!" Josh Nason of the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" wrote that Brawl for All was "regarded as a terrible idea". Then-WWF official Jim Cornette has described the tournament as "the stupidest thing that the WWF has ever done". He argued that the WWF misjudged the appeal that legitimate fighting would have to their audience, considering that the WWF had promoted the idea that their matches were merely entertainment. Furthermore, because the fighters were trained to work professional wrestling matches and not to fight, they risked both injury and the possibility that a defeat would hurt their marketability. Cornette also criticized the WWF for failing to use the tournament to promote Bart Gunn as a new star wrestler.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: In the WWE documentary "The Attitude Era", Jim Ross stated that it was "one of those ideas that looked really cool on paper", but John "Bradshaw" Layfield added that the execution was "a bad idea". Layfield also stated that "nobody knew Bart Gunn was "that" good." Ross later remarked that "No one got over". Sean Waltman called it "the dumbest fucking idea in WWE history", and felt the company educated its audience that "These guys are fighting for real, and everything else you're watching is bull shit."


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Documentary series "Dark Side of the Ring" covered the tournament in the fourth episode of its second season.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: In comparison to the North American audience, the Brawl for All had better reception in Japan, as it resulted in Bart Gunn's All Japan Pro Wrestling signing (Gunn became a successful mainstay for the company) and further advanced Steve Williams's character development on their shows.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Immediately prior to the Brawl for All, Holly (as "Bombastic Bob") and Gunn (as "Bodacious Bart") had been performing as a new version of The Midnight Express with Jim Cornette as their manager and had won the NWA World Tag Team Championship after defeating The Headbangers on an episode of "Raw". After winning the tournament, Bart Gunn, while still under contract with the WWF, was offered an All Japan Pro Wrestling contract from owner Giant Baba, who took interest in hiring Gunn due in part to his knockout of Steve Williams. In Japan, Williams was a longtime main-eventer and held a strong reputation for his toughness, and Giant Baba sought to integrate the Brawl for All results into his storylines. After signing with All Japan in October 1998, Gunn's debut would be announced on the November 1, 1998 edition of AJPW TV, making his in-ring debut that month.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: In February 1999, Gunn would return to the WWF to fulfill his contract obligations. Gunn feuded with both Bob Holly, now known as Hardcore Holly, and Steve Williams, both angry at having been beaten in the tournament, the latter masking himself and pushing Gunn off a stage.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Gunn was later matched against professional boxer Butterbean at WrestleMania XV in a boxing match; Gunn was knocked out 35 seconds into the bout and was fired by the WWF afterward. Jim Cornette was critical of Gunn being placed in a match with a pro boxer. Bob Holly claimed that Gunn's inevitable loss to Butterbean was a punishment for defeating the company's desired winner, Steve Williams. After the loss to Butterbean, Gunn returned to All Japan in May 1999, changing his ring name to Mike Barton that summer.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: Post the tournament; Droz suffered a career ending injury unrelated to the tournament during a "SmackDown!" taping in 1999; while Steve Blackman left in 2002, Bob Holly stayed with the company until 2009. Future WWE Hall of Fame inductees; The Godfather and Bradshaw left in 2002 and 2009 respectfully.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: In December 2000, a storyline started where "Dr. Death" Steve Williams crossed paths with Barton in a tag-team television match during the World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2000 tournament. They were on opposite teams and Williams sought to get even with Barton for his loss in the Brawl for All.


title: WWF Brawl for All

text: The feud with Williams would culminate into a revenge match on a January 28, 2001 pay-per-view main event, which Williams won. After this, Barton and Williams would regularly wrestle against each other throughout the first half of 2001, before the two would eventually team up later that year in October. Jim Steele and Mike Rotunda would join them in three-way or four-way tag team matches for the rest of the year before teaming occasionally until 2003.


title: UB40 discography

text: The discography of UB40, a British reggae band, consists of 20 studio albums, 17 compilation albums, seven live albums, two remix albums, 63 singles and a number of appearances with other artists.


title: UB40 discography

text: The band has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Their biggest hits include "Red Red Wine" (1983), "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You" (1993) and "I Got You Babe" (1985).


title: Hair fetishism

text: Hair fetishism, also known as hair partialism and trichophilia, is a partialism in which a person sees hair most commonly, head hair as particularly erotic and sexually arousing. Arousal may occur from seeing or touching hair, whether head hair, armpit hair, chest hair or fur. Head-hair arousal may come from seeing or touching very long or short hair, wet hair, certain colors of hair or a particular hairstyle. Pubephilia is sexual arousal at the sight or feel of pubic hair.


title: Hair fetishism

text: Haircut fetishism is a related paraphilia in which a person is aroused by having their head hair cut or shaved, by cutting the hair of another, by watching someone get a haircut, or by seeing someone with a shaved head or very short hair.


title: Hair fetishism

text: The word trichophilia comes from the Greek ""trica-"" (τρίχα), which means hair, and the suffix ""-philia"" (φιλία), which means love.


title: Hair fetishism

text: Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. In humans, hair can be scalp hair, facial hair, chest hair, pubic hair, axillary hair, besides other places. Men tend to have hair in more places than women. Hair does not in itself have any intrinsic sexual value other than the attributes given to it by individuals in a cultural context. Some cultures are ambivalent in relation to body hair, with some being regarded as attractive while others being regarded as unaesthetic. Many cultures regard a woman's hair to be erotic. For example, many Muslim women cover their hair in public, and display it only to their family and close friends. Similarly, many Jewish women cover their hair after marriage. During the Middle Ages, European women were expected to cover their hair after they married, and according to the New Testament, a Christian woman should cover her head while in a church or in prayer.