Spotify is leading an appeal against a recent rise in royalties for songwriters from on-demand streaming.
The streaming platform has lodged the challenge along with a number of other platforms including Amazon, Google and Pandora. Apple Music did not appeal the rise, which will require streaming platforms to increase their payments to songwriters from a 10.5% cut a to 15.1% cut over the course of the next five years.
Spotify has defended its decision to appeal the increase via a blog post, which you can read here. Describing the topic as "complex," Spotify’s post clarifies that it is not suing songwriters and that it does believe that songwriters should be paid more.
"The [Copyright Royalty Board] rate structure is complex and there were significant flaws in how it was set," Spotify argues. "A key area of focus in our appeal will be the fact that the CRB’s decision makes it very difficult for music services to offer ‘bundles’ of music and non-music offerings. This will hurt consumers who will lose access to them. These bundles are key to attracting first-time music subscribers so we can keep growing the revenue pie for everyone."
The company’s defence continues: "It’s natural for everyone to want a bigger piece of that pie. But that cannot come at the expense of continuing to grow the industry via streaming."
It’s not yet known when the streaming companies’ appeal will be heard.
