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Streamers Still Don't Want to Pay Songwriters

Updated: Oct 25, 2021




The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), digital service owners such as Amazon, Spotify, Apple, Pandora and Google are “proposing the lowest royalty rates in history” for songwriters in the US. They are allegedly doing so as part of the CRB IV, a legal process that will set songwriter streaming royalties in the US for the 2023-2027 period. This is playing out, at the same time, as Spotify and others (not including Apple) are in the process of appealing a streaming rate rise for songwriters for the 2018-2022 period (CRB III). We haven’t actually seen the digital services’ proposals in relation to the CRB IV process yet (they’re yet to file publicly) – but NMPA chief David Israelite has, and he’s fuming. The NMPA looks to be ready to take up the fight on behalf of songwriters– Israelite says:


“This fight has just begun.” He added: “We will be fighting to raise significantly what streaming services pay songwriters, and we will now see with full transparency to what degree Spotify, Amazon, Apple, YouTube and Pandora are trying to cut what little they currently pay. Not only do they propose rolling back rates and terms to erase all gains over the last 15 years, but they actually are proposing a structure worse than at any point in the history of interactive streaming."

Stories like this are the reason that Songs That Work exists. How much longer should songwriters wait for these companies to value the product of the creators and supporters of their platforms? No, we will exploit our own catalogs in business, film and television, thank you. We will use our streaming in digital content that pulls our supporters back to our websites to sell other touchstones to our supporters and make real livable wages. Start today at www.songsthatwork.info

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