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After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year (www.billboard.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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When Bloomberg reported that Spotify would be upping the cost of its premium subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and including 15 hours of audiobooks per month in the U.S., the change sounded like a win for songwriters and publishers. Higher subscription prices typically equate to a bump in U.S. mechanical royalties — but not this time.

By adding audiobooks into Spotify’s premium tier, the streaming service now claims it qualifies to pay a discounted “bundle” rate to songwriters for premium streams, given Spotify now has to pay licensing for both books and music from the same price tag — which will only be a dollar higher than when music was the only premium offering. Additionally, Spotify will reclassify its duo and family subscription plans as bundles as well.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (33 children)

I mean, Spotify is a great service for the consumer. One reasonable monthly fee for most of the music in the world.

If a similar video streaming service existed for 40€/month, I'd pay for it in a heartbeat. Now I have a plethora of arr apps and a vpn, and Plex. But it's a hassle sometimes.

We're all aware of the issues it created for the artists, and I'd be willing to double the fee if that money directly went to the artists, but this is where the capitalist model fails, as that won't maximize the profits for shareholders.

If we ever come up with a way to fix the underlying greed models that come with publicly traded companies, that would be great.

As it stands, it is what it is, but I'm glad we have this, instead of a "different Spotify per music publisher".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is there a median breakdown of the split on Spotify. How much the artist get, the label and Spotify. I get that the split between artists and labels could probably vary a lot. But I get the feeling that Spotify aren't the only one whos beeing greedy

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

You'd be correct

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