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After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year (www.billboard.com)

submitted 6 months ago by fpslem@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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When Bloomberg reported that Spotify would be upping the cost of its premium subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and including 15 hours of audiobooks per month in the U.S., the change sounded like a win for songwriters and publishers. Higher subscription prices typically equate to a bump in U.S. mechanical royalties — but not this time.

By adding audiobooks into Spotify’s premium tier, the streaming service now claims it qualifies to pay a discounted “bundle” rate to songwriters for premium streams, given Spotify now has to pay licensing for both books and music from the same price tag — which will only be a dollar higher than when music was the only premium offering. Additionally, Spotify will reclassify its duo and family subscription plans as bundles as well.

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[–] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

they should've became a publisher, or started one on the side, the profit would be immense if they thought of doing that.

[–] BURN@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Seriously. They had a completely open market, then essentially signed a perpetual deal where something like 40% of gross income is paid out to the labels. It’s absolutely insane how poorly run they were in the beginning.

If they had become a publisher, distributor and/or a label, they’d be on top of the world now.

[–] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 months ago

yeah pretty much. They'd be the single biggest publisher globally, and almost certainly the most profitable.