Universal Music, SoundCloud in Talks to Increase Artists’ Share of Streaming Revenue (Report)
thewrap.comBloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the talks.The goal is to reach a deal by the end of the year, the report said, noting the exact details are not yet worked out.While music sales have risen in recent years, artists and record labels say they are not getting paid enough.
And now that music industry growth is slowing, even as fraud and piracy continue to siphon revenue from everyone in the business, the issue is even more complicated.Streaming giant Spotify, for instance, said earlier this year that it has paid out nearly $40 billion to music rights holders since its launch in 2006.
The company pays out 70% of each dollar it takes it in to rights holders, including record labels, publishers, distributors, performing rights organizations and collection societies – but that amounts to just $0.005 per stream.
That means 1 million streams results in $5,000 in payouts, but the artists and composers themselves collect just a small share of that figure from the rights holders.For lesser-known artists, the payouts are even lower than for the likes of Post Malone and Lizzo, who are among the artists who shot to stardom after their SoundCloud posts went viral.
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