Thibault Penin
"Streaming music platforms’ payouts per stream are minuscule, and declining each year—leaving working musicians with little of the income generated by these platforms."
The hammer may soon come down on digital service providers.
It's an axiom among music industry professionals that royalties generated from streaming services are abysmal. While these companies rake in record profits and lease luxury office spaces for their employees, the musicians who constitute their userbases often bemoan their business models for practices many deem to be exploitative.
Rashida Tlaib, the U.S. representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district, has written a letter to Congress proposing that musicians should be fairly compensated for their work distributed by digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music. Tlaib says she has been working closely with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) to advocate for royalty reform.
"While the music industry has experienced an economic revival with the success of streaming music services like Spotify and Apple Music, the current lack of regulation or codified streaming music royalty program has driven a race to the bottom," Tlaib wrote, according to a press release. "Streaming music platforms' payouts per stream are minuscule, and declining each year—leaving working musicians with little of the income generated by these platforms."
Rashida Tlaib, the U.S. representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district.
United States Congress/Facebook
The money will be used to develop approximately 3,700 hotel rooms as well as a slew of gaming, dining, retail, lifestyle and nightlife experiences.
The rate will gradually increase over the next five years.
The long-awaited track, a collaboration with Fred again.. and Flowdan, had been in the works for roughly five years.
As the pandemic has continued to impact musicians, many have found themselves with nowhere else to turn but major streaming services, where their music must be available in order to market and connect with fans around the globe. But while the tech conglomerates behind the services enjoy massive profits, musicians are left in the dust, according to union organizer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco.
"UMAW has been working toward this legislation for over two years," La Neve DeFrancesco said in a statement. "Tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and others have sent music industry profits skyrocketing, but working musicians aren’t seeing any of that money. It’s time that we get our fair share."
The direct streaming royalty which Tlaib is calling for already exists in the infrastructure of satellite radio stations across the U.S. The royalties earned are collected and distributed to musicians through a platform called SoundExchange.
UMAW has also launched a campaign to educate musicians around the country and encourage constituents to write a letter to their representatives to co-sponsor Tlaib's bill.
"This is a substantial grassroots effort that could make a permanent change to the music industry, leveling the playing field for the benefit of musicians," writes UMAW. "We need all the help we can get! We're hoping that all of you, and anybody you know who cares about music and fairness for musicians, will contact your Representative."
Lennon is a music journalist who has contributed to EDM.com for over five years. A seasoned music business reporter, his writings bridge the gap between education and technology through a musical lens. He is also the host of the music business podcast When Life Hands You Lennons and founder of his own electronic music website, EDM In A Soda.
Sign up for the latest news, exclusive giveaways & more.
It is the “duty of the Federal Government to establish a new royalty program,” according to Tlaib’s resolution.
Congressional leaders are requesting Spotify release a monthly report of all the content included in its promotional Discovery Mode feature.
David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association, said major streaming services “have proposed the lowest royalty rates in history.”
“Core copyright industries like music play an integral role in the U.S. economy, and the vitality of the industry is undermined when artists’ hard work is undervalued.”
The news precipitated an appeal from four major providers of streaming services.
Aggregate data was collected by The Trichordist.
“The numbers are horrifying.”
The rate will gradually increase over the next five years.
