How much are songwriters paid for? – Rolling stone

Continuous music has always been a ruthless market, with large companies not having a lot of positive things to say to each other. But things got particularly heated this week when a small adjustment to US copyright rules – a year ago and resurfaced now because of new development – sparked a series of public accusations among streaming companies, songwriters and music badociations.

This is a complicated case involving a very dense 119-page court document. Here is a simplified overview of heckling.

What is the solution?
In January 2018, the US Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of three judges that determines digital music payment rates, increased the amount that services such as Spotify must pay to songwriters – from 10% of revenue to 15% revenues. year, which represents a significant increase that took a long time to negotiate and that the National Music Publishers Association hailed as "the largest tariff increase in the history of the BRC".

So, why is everyone so angry now?
Last week, several streaming services (Amazon, Google / YouTube, Pandora and Spotify) announced that they would appeal this decision, claiming that the rate hike would do more harm than good to the company. 39, music industry. They propose a different model for payments. is less "economically unfounded". Even though CRB's calls are not uncommon – creators and distributors often wonder about the amount owed to the other – several songwriters such as tube maker Justin Tranter have called the move "shameful", and the NMPA was lamentable during streaming for attempting to "sue songwriters" and scam them for money.

Does Spotify really pursue songwriters?
No, and Spotify tried to clarify this himself in a blog post, explaining that the problem was related to the new rates indicated in the CRB's decision. "It's natural for everyone to want a bigger piece of [the revenue] Spotify said, because of the rates decided by the CRB, it is too difficult to offer discounted packages, essential to bring new customers to streaming music services.

Why is Apple Music involved??
Apple is the only major streaming music service not involved in the call. She took advantage of this position by issuing a long Friday statement that Spotify is pursue music creators while Apple Music is a professional artist because it accepts the CRB's current plan for higher rates. "It's not just a mistake, it's a real, meaningful and damaging step backwards for the music industry," Apple said in its own blog. "Under rhetoric, the goal of Spotify is to earn more money with the work of others. Apple had another motive that publicly criticized him: he is currently running a separate legal battle with the Swedish streaming service compared to the 30% commission that she takes. for in-app purchases made through the iOS App Store.

And what now?
The four streaming services that oppose the CRB's new tariff will now appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit, and the case could take years to resolve. Some industry badysts suggest winning solutions for everyone, such as getting listeners to pay more for monthly streaming subscriptions, which would bring more money to the authors. composers and streaming companies. But nothing indicates that – or anything else – will happen anytime soon. For now, the biggest success of the streaming industry is a group match.