Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year With Premium, Duo, Family Plan Changes
www.billboard.com
Spotify will potentially pay songwriters about $150 million less in U.S. mechanical royalties next year after bundling its plans with audiobooks.

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.

  • inset@lemmy.todayEnglish
    4·
    7 months ago

    I always wonder how the hell don’t make money, it must be some kind of “smart” accounting.

    • kalleboo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      7 months ago

      It’s because they are 100% reliant on the record labels, and the record labels know that. So the record labels can charge Spotify whatever they want, because what is Spotify going to do?

      That’s why Spotify tried to hard to move into Podcasts and now Audio books, so that they are less reliant on the record labels.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      31·
      7 months ago

      they don’t make money because they’re a tech company, they pull in VC funding, and then lose money year after year, they don’t need to make any money because the model is to get everyone on your platform, and then start making money. (which apparently spotify hasn’t figured out yet)

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          7 months ago

          i’m still trying to figure out how they’re going to enshittify, because it’s already expensive as shit. And they still make no money, so.

          • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            7 months ago

            Higher prices, worse quality, intrusive recommendations, ad filled basic tier?

            It all depends on how much people are willing to put up with.

            • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              2·
              7 months ago

              higher prices would be a tough bargain i think, list price is already 15 dollars a month, which i think is pushing it. They already drop songs on the regular, the only way to make it worse would be to have less songs, i.e. even less worth the price. Recommendations are already a thing, but thats a different problem. Ads already exist, and they’ve already been memed on, though that is a free tier, so.

              I can’t imagine people putting up with much more, given that for fifteen dollars a month you could buying an entire whole ass album from a band that you like every month.

              • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                7 months ago

                I 100% agree with everything you said. It’s just that I thought people wouldn’t put up with the stuff Netflix has been pulling but I was wrong.

                Music is different though…

                • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  netflix is also added ad supported tiers at lower prices, so chances are they’re the primary account holders. That and the fact that they have a couple really good shows still. Netflix is probably nearly bleeding at the edges, or soon to be bleeding at the edges though, they’re probably post pandemic high riding a little bit even now.

                  Though it’s also worth noting people are actually starting to pirate media more now due to the breadth of streaming services that exist, it doesn’t seem to be just the one service, it seems to be the fact that there are 12 now that’s causing it.