Musicians speak out against Spotify, Amazon payout appeals
Following the announcement that both Spotify and Amazon are filing an appeal to resist higher payouts for songwriters, many musicians have taken to social media to speak out about the streaming services.
According to Loudwire, the Music Modernization Act has pushed for increased streaming royalties. However, as the Verge reports, the streaming services are not actually suing songwriters. Instead they are trying to appeal the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to increase songwriters’ payouts by almost 44 percent.
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However, when compared to what their current payouts look like, the numbers are still shockingly low. As of right now, Spotify pays around .003 cents a stream. The payout increase would only change that pay to .004 cents per stream, which is still much less than a penny.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that the payouts listed above are dispersed among multiple people working with a band.
That said, the recent news has caused musicians to start talking about how much they are paid per song stream. Rather than the appeal, artists are instead angry about how little their art is worth in terms of monetary compensation.
Check out what some musicians and their listeners have to say about the streaming services below.
Yo, @spotify. ??
Songwriters have been getting ripped off by your business model for a hot minute. Now that you have to pay up, you’re gonna pull this shit along with @Amazon and @google? GTFO
— Will Pugh (@willpug) March 8, 2019
I guess they grew tired of paying 1/100th of one cent to the folks who made them billionaires. Seems only logical they would sue to protect their right to give away the songwriters hard work and creativity. https://t.co/fmiGD6KEAZ
— Joe Bonamassa (Official) (@JBONAMASSA) March 8, 2019
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Take your f*cking foot off our necks!
Shame on streaming services who are fighting this rate increase for songwriters who are just trying to pay for food!#musicarmy put your money where your mouth is. The only streaming service who supported us is @AppleMusic.
— Ross Golan (@rossgolan) March 8, 2019
this is demoralizing. i’m a regular guy with a regular day job. i work tirelessly to turn my art into a career
show me a single mainstream artist whose listeners don’t do this to show support … idc about the $0.006 that Spotify pays for a stream pic.twitter.com/W0xFV6UGTB— Point Blank Society (@PBSocietyMusic) March 2, 2019
What do you think of Spotify and Amazon’s current payout rates? Sound off in the comments below.
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