Apple is the real winner in Spotify’s battle against paying songwriters more

“Streaming giant Spotify, after years of attempting to woo the songwriting community, is now at the front of an effort to pay it less,” Jem Aswad and Shirley Halperin report for Variety. “It’s a move that has seen the company, the market leader with 87 million worldwide subscribers, hand second-place Apple, with an estimated 43.5 million subs, an opportunity to make up ground.”
“At issue is the Copyright Royalty Board’s 2018 decision to raise the rate paid to songwriters by 44% over the next five years. Spotify, along with three other streaming services — Amazon, Google and SiriusXM/Pandora — is appealing that decision to the board, a move that has no direct precedent,” Aswad and Halperin report. “The four companies have been shellacked with criticism by artists for their action… Apple, which would also benefit if the rate increase is nullified, is not part of the appeal.”
“Apple is most certainly winning the PR war, and as any seasoned entertainment executive would tell you, perception is everything,” Aswad and Halperin report. “As a sign of how badly the PR war is going [for Spotify], many songwriters are canceling Spotify subscriptions and doing so publicly on social media, where they make sure to note their subscription fees will now be going to Apple Music.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Message: Unlike Spotify, Pandora, et al., Apple cares about songwriters.
If the appeal fails:
The big losers here are Spotify and Pandora. Apple, Amazon, and Google each have enough money to pay songwriters 15.1% until the end of time. — MacDailyNews, January 29, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Apple will not appeal songwriter royalty increase, digital music competitors Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon – March 7, 2019
Spotify, Apple, YouTube lose as Copyright Royalty Board raises streaming music royalty rates – January 29, 2018