News - PAGE 259

Spotify’s New Royalty Model to Pay Songwriters Less

Jason Tate

Kristin Robinson, writing at Billboard:

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.

To determine how great this loss in royalty value would be for the music business, Billboard calculated that songwriters and publishers will earn an estimated $150 million less in U.S. mechanical royalties from premium, duo and family plans for the first 12 months that this is in effect, compared to what they would have earned if these three subscriptions were never bundled

Trophy Eyes Fan Injured at Concert

gofundme
Jason Tate

A Trophy Eyes fan was injured in New York on Tuesday due to stage diving. A GoFundMe has been setup:

Bird Piché suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury while attending a concert on April 30th and underwent an extensive surgery. She has a long recovery ahead and will need all the help she can get. It is still too early to know what her prognosis is but after leaving the hospital she will need to go to a rehab facility. She will obviously not be able to work during this time.

The band has issued the following statement:

As the result of a tragic accident on the night of April 30th, a Trophy Eyes fan was injured at our Buffalo NY show. We elected to immediately shut down the show as John accompanied them to the hospital with their family. Out of respect for the family, we have refrained from speaking about this publicly so far, but with the blessing of their family we are now able to say how truly heartbroken we are to be here now. Our friend, Bird, is now in recovery, but still has a long road ahead for them. A GoFundMe has been set up by their family, you can donate below. This situation has shaken us all to our core, and we ask for patience while we look to help Bird navigate this difficult time. We remain in close contact with them and will expand on this as new news arrives