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Apple Not Fighting Royalty Increase for Songwriters That Spotify, Pandora, Google and Amazon Have Appealed

McG2k1 said:
Good strategery. Let everyone else fight the battle, make it look like you are concerned about artists.
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Apple does care about artists, though it may not fit the “Tim Crook=greedy beancounter” narrative. The facts are that Apple Music has higher payouts.

As reported by Digital Music News, IiB compiled data from artists and other sources.... For every 1,000 plays, an unsigned artist can earn $6.40 from Apple Music and $3.80 from Spotify, but YouTube only pays out $0.60 per 1,000 streams. Signed artists have the opportunity to earn more from each platform, $7.30 from Apple Music, $4.40 from Spotify and just $0.70 from Youtube for every 1,000 plays.
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https://mixmag.net/read/new-data-re...tform-pays-artists-the-most-in-royalties-news



The RIAA estimates are higher, but they have roughly the same proportions:

Breaking down the RIAA’s estimates, here’s what music creators receive for 1,000 streams on the following platforms:
  • Apple Music: Slightly over $12.
  • Spotify: About $7.50.
  • YouTube: Around $1.50.
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https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/08/21/apple-music-spotify-youtube-riaa/
 
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Absolutely brilliant. The amount of talent and dedication required to write original music is grossly undervalued. The enjoyment per dollar is also way off the mark.
[doublepost=1552012015][/doublepost]Before I get lynched, yes I do realise this is a smart strategic move from (Tim) Apple ;)
 
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I doubt Spotify and Pandora could survive losing access to songs due to angering the music industry. It is possible that the court may believe that the music industry is engaging in price fixing but it is equally possible that the court may believe that the parties suing are in fact manipulating the price themselves in their favor
 
Here's what I'm worried about here: that Apple knows that the royalties going up will destroy Spotify... while Apple has the deep pockets to deal with it (for now) and renegotiate later (after Spotify goes out of business).

I can't say anything about whether writers/artists are properly compensated (haven't read enough on the subject). But - don't assume that any corporations actions are as altruistic as they appear!
 
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I hope this attracts some of the holdout artists not on Apple Music.
 
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What?? What does the US govt have to do with royalty rates? I now remember this law from before but had totally forgotten.
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friedmud said:
Here's what I'm worried about here: that Apple knows that the royalties going up will destroy Spotify... while Apple has the deep pockets to deal with it (for now) and renegotiate later (after Spotify goes out of business).

I can't say anything about whether writers/artists are properly compensated (haven't read enough on the subject). But - don't assume that any corporations actions are as altruistic as they appear!
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It's likely. Anyway, another reason this should just not be regulated.
 
MacRumors said:



Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon have all teamed up to appeal a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board that will increase royalties paid to songwriters by 44 percent, reports Variety.

In a joint statement, the companies, which all operate major streaming music services, said that the decision harms both music licensees and copyright owners.

apple-music-note-800x420.jpg
Apple is not joining the other streaming music services and will not appeal the decision. According to Variety, songwriter organizations have been heavily praising Apple while condemning the other streaming services.

David Israelite, CEO of the National Music Publishers' association, called the appeals from Spotify, Pandora, Google and Amazon "tech bullies who do not respect or value the songwriters who make their businesses possible."

He also thanked Apple Music for not participating in the appeal and for "continuing to be a friend to songwriters."

Article Link: Apple Not Fighting Royalty Increase for Songwriters That Spotify, Pandora, Google and Amazon Have Appealed
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As a musician and songwriter myself, I 100% condone and thank Apple’s stance on this, and I firmly believe that songwriters deserve a much bigger cut than what they receive for composing. You have to understand that songwriters get so little for what they write with the way modern streaming services function. It is perverse how songwriters get taken advantage of by services such as Spotify and Pandora. Record labels and streaming services get most of the profits from every song you listen to on their service. This is unfair and needs to stop. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a change.
 
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I think this is a tricky discussion. The way music is distributed has changed. When a new album was release, the label/artist would get a one-off payment for the sale of the cd/LP, regardless whether it was played once or 1000x or whether the CD/LP was sold further.
Now, artists will get paid for “iternary” for each stream. The pay is diluted out.
So what is a stream worth on a planet with 7 billion people? Just for writing a song te artist can’t expect to have 5 cars and 3 houses at the beach. So what are 100,000 stream on all platforms (all streaming services, radio, tv etc) worth? I have a family member in the music industry as a writer, and financially he is doing very well, despite being involved in only a limited number of songs. And he will continue to do well, even should he choose to leave the business. From what other job can that be said?
 
Streaming is absolutely killing the smaller artists who can barely break even, much less make an actual profit.

Good for Apple on this one.
 
Nice to hear that Apple is still on the creators side. But I can’t understand the other companies letting Apple being the good guys all by them self!
 
td2243 said:
Streaming is absolutely killing the smaller artists who can barely break even, much less make an actual profit.

Good for Apple on this one.
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How is it killing smaller artists? Was it correct that a small artist used to get the same (from the end user) as, let’s say, Madonna?
If the artist thinks his/her music is so good then nothing is stopping him/her to sell it on their own website and charge €1000.- for it.
 
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GuruZac said:
Kudos to Apple. As a former professional musician I appreciate in the age of streaming music, at least my favorite tech company is on the musician’s side more than any of the others.
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Sorry to disappoint, but your favorite tech company does not really care about the musicians, they just happen to have loads of cash they can use to sit-out this price storm, hoping that their competitors will get squeezed out of business. It is a smart tactical move with great publicity, but lately Apple became one of the greediest companies on this planet.
 
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fairuz said:
What?? What does the US govt have to do with royalty rates? I now remember this law from before but had totally forgotten.
[doublepost=1552022283][/doublepost]
It's likely. Anyway, another reason this should just not be regulated.
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I assumed it was an industry organization like the guilds in Hollywood.
 
one more said:
Sorry to disappoint, but your favorite tech company does not really care about the musicians, they just happen to have loads of cash they can use to sit-out this price storm, hoping that their competitors will get squeezed out of business. It is a smart tactical move with great publicity, but lately Apple became one of the greediest companies on this planet.
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Apple pays a lot more per stream than Spotify and YouTube. That’s good for artists, songwriters and musicians, right? It’s too bad Spotify and Google pay so little in comparison.

But if Apple really wanted to hurt Spotify, all they would have to do is pull a Walmart/Amazon play and lower their prices (temporarily) to drive out competition. Lowering prices would get them a lot more publicity than giving songwriters more money, which few will hear about—and would hurt Spotify immensely.
 
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It makes sense for Apple to support paying higher rates. They don’t need Apple Music to be profitable, unlike companies like Spotify. So Apple can easily weather the storm while Spotify has to bear the brunt of the higher costs (and it's having a hard enough time turning a profit as is). The worse position Spotify is in, the better off Apple Music will be.
 
I've been thinking about switching my Spotify subscription to Apple Music anyway thanks to Spotify dragging their feet with Siri shortcuts support, so I think this is the final straw. The hobbyist musician in me also agrees.
 
Mitochris said:
I think this is a tricky discussion. The way music is distributed has changed. When a new album was release, the label/artist would get a one-off payment for the sale of the cd/LP, regardless whether it was played once or 1000x or whether the CD/LP was sold further.
Now, artists will get paid for “iternary” for each stream. The pay is diluted out.
So what is a stream worth on a planet with 7 billion people? Just for writing a song te artist can’t expect to have 5 cars and 3 houses at the beach. So what are 100,000 stream on all platforms (all streaming services, radio, tv etc) worth? I have a family member in the music industry as a writer, and financially he is doing very well, despite being involved in only a limited number of songs. And he will continue to do well, even should he choose to leave the business. From what other job can that be said?
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Exactly this, do I/you get more when doing a regular job, I get paid by the month, that's it, I am good at it, why should an artist earn millions by doing nothing after writing a song, most of the money earned by artists should be made by them performing, the songs should be (close to) free.


PickUrPoison said:
Whatever they were getting, Apple’s going to pay 44% more. Whether you make $10,000/yr or $10 million/yr, a 44% raise is significant.
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44% is significant but the amount applied to makes a difference, example, you can barely make a living from $ 15.000, add 44% and it makes a huge difference, earning 1 million or 1.44 million makes little difference in the way you (can) live.
 
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nzcatfood said:
“the decision harms both music licensees and copyright owners.”

What about the struggling artists who actually created the content?
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Obviously. Does anyone actually believe Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon’s statement that they’re fighting the increase on our behalf?
 
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