UNION OF MUSICIANS AND ALLIED WORKERS have launched "JUSTICE AT SPOTIFY", an online petition to increase royalty payments and transparency.
FROM UNION OF MUSICIANS:
Spotify is the most dominant platform on the music streaming market. The company behind the streaming platform continues to accrue value, yet music workers everywhere see little more than pennies in compensation for the work they make.
With the entire live music ecosystem in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic, music workers are more reliant on streaming income than ever. We are calling on Spotify to deliver increased royalty payments, transparency in their practices, and to stop fighting artists.
Share with other musicians and allies:
Stop Fighting Artists
Spotify positions itself as the ultimate tool for artists to connect with and acquire new fans – but those aspirations frequently come in conflict with their bottom line and their business model. They ask artists to generate more and more content, saying “You can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough.”
Their own director of economics, Will Page, has stated that switching the platform to a user-centric model would be too difficult to implement because of “significant financial costs to adopting and implementing user-centric distribution.” Spotify should be fighting for the artists who built it, instead of further undercutting our economic well-being.
And earlier in 2020, Spotify along with several other streaming giants took to the DC circuit courts to appeal the 44% increase in mechanical songwriter royalty payments set in 2018 by the Copyright Royalty Board. Spotify along with other streaming giants have invested millions of dollars into this legal battle to deny songwriters their due. Spotify cannot legitimately claim to be helpful to artists if they continue to fight songwriters in court.
1¢ per Play!
Here we are, begging for 1¢ PER PLAY from a multibillionaire CEO. WE DESERVE JUSTICE!
Spotify: $0.004 per play
Tidal: $0.012 per play
Apple Music: $0.007 per play
YouTube: $0.00069 per view
“If” an artist got 1 million streams the payout would be as follows:
Spotify: $4,000/ 1 million streams
Tidal: $12,000/ 1 million streams
Apple Music: $7,000/ 1 million streams
YouTube: $690/ 1 million streams
The CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek said in an interview, “You can’t record every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough.”
In response to that, we would like to point out that making more records is impossible given the current economics of major streaming services. Spotify, the leading service, with a 35% global share in 2019, is ‘setting the standard’ at $0.004/ stream. That is ONE THIRD (1/3) of what Tidal offers and nearly half of the Apple Music payout.
Everyone would like to release an album more than every three to four years, but the costs of such a project are exuberant!
A musician spends on average $5,000 to produce and promote a song properly. In the very ideal scenario of 1 million streams at $0.004/ stream, artists would not even BREAK-EVEN.
Here’s what it costs to produce a song (average rates):
Hiring musicians (Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, and Voice): $250 x 5 = $1,250
Pre-production: $350
Mixing: $450
Mastering: $250
Total per song: $2,300
That does not even include other instruments, such as a brass section, percussion etc. Unless you do everything yourself, the cost of making a single song is very high. This is also part of the reason why the quality of music has been degrading in recent years.
On that basis, making a 10-song album would cost over $20,000!
Now, to make a music video? $5,000-$15,000, in some cases even more!
These costs do not even factor-in PR and the artist’s time to write, compose and produce the record.
WHERE WILL ALL THAT MONEY COME FROM?
Especially in the time of a pandemic, where no shows or tours mean no additional income.
Making $4,000/ 1 million streams is not even enough to make a SINGLE, let alone an entire record. And that is IF anyone can get to a million streams.
We demand that all streaming services, such as Spotify, PAY ARTISTS AT LEAST 1¢ PER PLAY!
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How the petition started:
I’ve been a professional drummer for the past 12 years and recently released a single called “Can’t Pretend” under the artist name SALIN. Getting ready to release my album, I had been researching the music industry and how artists get paid. In a discussion with an artist friend of mine who was already on Spotify, I was told that for every 10,000 plays, he gets $40. This blew my mind. I knew that there must be a more fair and ethical way of consuming music, so after reading the post by Maya Malkin I decided to start this petition.
You can read her full post here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDgzTZ0D6zX/
On behalf of every artist,
Salin
https://www.unionofmusicians.org/justice-at-spotify
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-
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