Spotify has announced that they’re changing its royalty model so it can send more money to artists.
Spotify has always been under fire for how they dole out royalties for streams. In their defense, much of their payout requirements are imposed by record labels, publishers, and copyright boards, but there are other aspects over which they have some control.
Yesterday, the Spotify blog contained details of the company will introduce “new policies to better support those most dependent on streaming revenues as part of their livelihood.” It will work with distributors, major labels, independent labels, and artists to create these new polices.
There are three main objectives:
- To further deter artificial streaming.
- To better distribute small payments that aren’t reaching artists. (Interesting, since they recently announced no payouts to any track that streams less than 1,000 times over a period of 12 months. Then again, Spotify says that those songs generate an average of 3 cents per months, so…)
- And to “rein in those attempting to game the system with noise.”
If it gets things right, Spotify says this will push “an additional $1 billion in revenue toward emerging and professional artists over the next five years.”
Read the full analysis here.
