What Spotify’s New Royalty Model Really Means
variety.comJem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As news about Spotify’s new payment model has torturously dribbled out — details have been leaked through sources, with little official comment from the company — it’s not surprising that controversy has accompanied it.
Streaming royalty models are deeply complicated and Spotify, the world’s largest paid streaming service by a long measure, has borne the brunt of the world’s frustration with the low royalties that most artists and especially songwriters receive from digital service providers.
Several articles and headlines have seized on a major point of the new model, which rolls out next year, revealed last week in an article by Kristin Graziani, president of music distributor Stem: That tracks earning less than 1,000 streams within 12 months will not receive a royalty payment.
According to Spotify’s Loud & Clear website, just 37.5 million tracks out of the more than 100 million on Spotify have surpassed 1,000 streams, meaning some two-thirds of all songs hosted by Spotify have not reached that payment plateau.
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