Mo' Money and Hopefully Less Problems
5 February 2018
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When Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify in 2014, she made the public vehemently aware of how little musicians were getting paid per stream. An artist can expect to earn between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream on Spotify, depending on what country the app is being used in. Even for a big artist like Swift, that price-point is appalling. A little over a decade ago, CDs used to go for fifteen dollars and now musicians are fighting for every dime.
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Swift has since returned to the music service, but her act of defiance may have sparked a huge change in copyright legislation. Just two weeks ago, a federal copyright board raised music
streaming royalties for songwriters and music publishers from 10.5 percent to 15.1 percent. This most certainly was in response to the growing disputes between artists and their streaming services. It seems simple: artists deserve the rate increases and they are finally receiving them. Unfortunately, recording labels are still seeing way more of that cash than their artists are. While the Copyright Royalty Board’s new decision will be benefiting the songwriters and publishers, it is estimated that record labels will still be receiving $3.82 for every $1.00 paid to the artist or publisher. Sadly, it has been an issue for some time now, where artists see far less money than they should while their labels reap the benefits. All we can do right now is cross our fingers that this five-year deal will mean more improvements for the singer-songwriters of today's musical world.