Spotify ‘rips-off’ musicians, says Donegal singer-songwriter Seoirse O’Dochartaigh

An Inishowen singer-songwriter, who has just released a new album, has slammed online streaming services for “ripping off” musicians.

Seoirse O’Dochartaigh’s latest collection of songs ‘The Heart’s a Wonder Vol. 2’ is out now on CD.

However, he worries that the era of the CD album is now gone, replaced by internet music providers, which pay only a pittance to the artists.

“This is really a new ‘collection’ rather than an album. The whole concept of an ‘album’ issued as a CD is nowadays, sadly, a thing of the past since younger music lovers just download selected single tracks while their parents (for reasons I still can’t fully comprehend) throw out their CD players and CD Walkmans.”

“I will do some original songs and offer them as mp3 downloads from time to time from my own website.”

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“I only ever put one album on Spotify and it gets thousands and thousands of downloads each year and lots of streaming from all over the world. I get a regular printout from Spotify running into six stapled pages. At the end of it, it says ‘Your total: €5.35’!”

“Many music lovers may like Spotify but it’s a rip-off to all musicians,” Seoirse says.

Ó Dochartaigh, who lives at Mossyglen in the outer reaches of the Moville parish, explains how his latest release “completes my musical journey through some of my favourite songs in Irish and English”.

“I have been singing some of them for a few years now but only got round to recording them in 2024. A most enjoyable experience with some superb musicians from Derry: Jim Walker, Úna Page, Phil Stewart and Brian McMonagle. My youngest daughter, Katharina Ní Dhochartaigh, sings vocal harmonies and voiceovers on the third track ‘Báigh Inis Fraoich’.”

Aged 78 years old now, Ó Dochartaigh has released more than 20 albums in recent decades. He remains as prolific as ever and says he still has a “strong drive” to keep on creating and recording music.

“I could be carrying a musical idea in my head for years and when I book the recording studio for a couple of weeks I say to myself: ‘Maybe this is the time to put this idea down’. If it works, great. If not, I just move through the other items.”

“I’m 78 but I don’t feel it . . . musically! People tell me I sing with the voice of a younger man. It’s nice to know that. I don’t think my voice broke as a teenager because I always continued to sing high parts in the church choir when other boys my age had to leave the choir because their voices were breaking up and sounding like gravel.”

Is Ó Dochartaigh happy with the finished record?

“Yes, generally. If a track doesn’t please it doesn’t get on the album. I often return to these out-takes years later and have another go at them. In this sense, I’m a sort of ‘completion-ist’ but if a track isn’t working I don’t let it slow up the process for the rest of the recording; I move on.”

Incredibly, he has been singing now for more than 75 years and playing guitar for almost 60.

“I have been singing since I was 2 or 3 and playing guitar from the age of 19. I had three chords then and could sing and play (very badly) Dylan’s ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time’. A friend bet me I wouldn’t sing it in public at an open-mic session. I did and won the bet!”

He has been singing ever since. The latest release, he says, is “just about the song”. “Just like The Heart’s a Wonder Vol. 1, I forget all about ‘style’ and ‘originality’ and being over-cautious about sounding like anyone else. Eclecticism rules!”. The Heart’s a Wonder Vol. 2 by Seoirse O Dochartaigh is out now.