Technology

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• Spotify's royalty system has faced criticism for not paying artists their fair share (Nov. 29, 2023, MSNBC)

The platform does not pay according to a per-stream rate, but rather puts all the revenue from subscribers and ads into a giant pot, and divides that share according to their respective "streamshare." Under this model, artists are estimated to receive between $0.003 to $0.005 per play.

That's about to change. Beginning early next year, Spotify will only pay royalties to artists whose tracks have been streamed 1,000 times in the past 12 months, effectively locking out the smallest artists from the "streamshare" pot. The money that would have been paid out to these small artists — which Spotify said amounts to $40 million a year — will instead go to "those most dependent on streaming revenue."

According to Spotify, artists generally don't pocket the earnings from tracks that have under 1,000 streams anyway, because they don't meet the labels and distributors' minimum withdrawal amount. The company also says it does not make any additional money under the new model. But musicians have said they feel the model is “putting a number on art," and industry experts said that this change essentially makes Spotify the arbiter of which artist is deserving of payment.

There has to be a way for multibillion-dollar companies to both keep music accessible and appropriately compensate musicians — especially fledgling, independent ones.

• Spotify made £56m profit, but has decided not to pay smaller artists like me (Nov. 30, 2023, The Guardian)

Spotify will stop paying anything at all for roughly two-thirds of tracks on the platform. That is any track receiving fewer than 1,000 streams over the period of a year. Tracks falling under this arbitrary minimum will continue to accrue royalties – but those royalties will now be redirected upwards, often to bigger artists, rather than to their own rights holders.

This sounds incredible, but there’s nothing to stop it. And their primary business partners – the three major labels – are cheering the change on because it will mean more money in their pockets.