Spotify is a point of contention with just about every artist on the platform. Their payouts are already criminally low with it being reported that the streaming service pays between $.003-$.005 per stream. A general estimate from Xposuremusic.com states that an artist gets paid between $4,000 to $7,000 per 1 million streams.
Billboard is now reporting that Spotify is going to pay songwriters around $150 million less next year with changes to its plans. Kristen Robinson writes: “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.”
In simpler terms, Robinson writes “songwriters and publishers will earn an estimated $150 million less in US mechanical royalties from premium, duo, and family plans for the first 12 months that this is in effect, compared to what they would have earned if these three subscriptions were never bundled.”
Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider is not a fan of the service or its CEO Daniel Ek. “I wanna tell you, he should be taken out and shot,” Snider previously told “The Jeremy White Show.” “When he heard that artists were complaining about how little we get paid, his response was ‘make more music’ — like we’re producing cans of Coke. Just increase the production. It’s insulting and belittling.”
Ozzy Osbourne also has no love for Spotify. “Spotify is a f*cking joke,” he previously told Classic Rock Magazine. “The royalty aspect of making music has gone right down the toilet. It’s a completely different world now. Before, you could do gigs and get spotted. Now, you buy a book on how to be a rock star, read it and go from there.”
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