Songwriters usually operate out of the public eye: Even when creating inescapable hits that charge up the charts, they rarely leave the studio. But earlier this month, writers angrily stepped into the spotlight. In an open letter to Spotify, a group of hitmakers spanning generations and genres, from pop-R&B legend Babyface to country stalwart Shane McAnally, declared themselves hurt and disappointed. Do the right thing, they instructed Spotify, and drop your appeal of the Copyright Royalty Board rate determination.
This open letter is the latest escalation in what more than a dozen songwriters and publishers describe to Rolling Stone as an ongoing cold war with Spotify, which is battling them over their second meaningful pay increase in more than a century. In March, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and Google appealed a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board, which voted to increase the amounts that songwriters make from interactive streaming by more than 40 percent over five years. In a statement, Spotify, Google and Pandora wrote that the raise harms both music licensees and copyright owners.
Apple and Spotify Are Dueling Over How Much to Pay SongwritersWhy More Pop Songwriters Are Stepping Into the Spotlight25 Songs That Are Truly TerrifyingCharles Manson: How Cult Leader's Twisted Beatles Obsession Inspired Family Murders
Writers and publishers are understandably angry, and they are especially frustrated with Spotify, which they accuse of betrayal of trust, bullying the little man [and woman], and, behind the scenes, spreading misinformation and even intimidation. Spotify declined to comment.
The rupture between the songwriting community and Spotify comes abruptly after the two groups worked together to pass the Music Modernization Act last September, which the Recording Academy hailed as the most sweeping music copyright reform since the 8-track tape era.Before that bill was signed into law in October, the Copyright Royalty Board a government body that sets the statutory licensing terms for songs registered under U.S. law voted to give songwriters a raise. Rulings from the board can be appealed, though, and once the MMA became a reality, all the streaming services except Apple Music decided to object to paying songwriters more money.
While Spotify didnt act alone, its decision to appeal the CRB ruling stung particularly deeply in the songwriting community, which had come to regard the platform as an ally in a largely hostile streaming world. According to one member of the songwriting community who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, No one ever expected YouTube, Amazon or Pandora to care about songwriter royalties or raising the rates in the history of this, theyve always fought to lower the rates and have never been friends of writers and publishers.
Spotify, in contrast, has taken great pains to ingratiate themselves with the songwriting community recently, according to a music industry executive who has had extensive dealings with the streaming service but was not authorized to speak publicly. Not just with the Secret Genius awards [which elevated writers and producers whose songs were streaming hits] they put up enormous amounts of resources to put songwriter credits on their service. As a result, another hit-writer says, Spotifys action hurts differently.
The writers are getting paid the least Richard Stumpf, CEO of Atlas Music Publishing
In a blog post from Spotify explaining its appeal, the service said it actually supported songwriters earning more money just not in the manner laid out by the CRB. Music services, artists, songwriters and all other rights-holders share the same revenue stream, and its natural for everyone to want a bigger piece of that pie, Spotify wrote. But that cannot come at the expense of continuing to grow the industry via streaming. And its true that the industry is again enjoying years of consecutive growth after a long period of downturn, largely thanks to streaming services like Spotify.
But songwriters say they shouldnt be the ones to suffer for growth, since they are already facing tough economic conditions. The writers are getting paid the least, says Richard Stumpf, CEO of Atlas Music Publishing. If you look at the pie as 100, the labels taking 59, Spotifys taking 29, while the publishing sides only getting 12. Unlike labels or artists, [songwriters] live under a compulsory license, so we cant say no [to the streaming services], adds David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association, which represents publishers and their songwriter partners. Three judges [who sit on the CRB] tell us the value of our songs. All we can do is fight within the system were forced to live under.
But even their ability to fight under those constraints is hampered, they say, by the concentrated power of the streaming services. A lot of people dont want to be involved because of the possibility of retaliation, says the music industry executive. If Spotify is at the table, you have to always wear kid gloves. This fear is reflected in the list of signees: As impressive as the names on the open letter are, there are still many prominent writers missing you wont find several of the people responsible for this weeks 20-biggest hits (Ryan Tedder and Benny Blanco, for example, who both did not respond to requests for comment). And of course, many artists are writers, too, but the artist community has largely stayed out of this battle.
Some in the music industry believe that fears of retaliation are far-fetched writers are oversensitive; too much of playlist placement is determined by algorithms. But the member of the writing community who pointed out the services opposition to songwriter raises alleges that an unnamed Spotify employee issued a threat over the phone in March, describing the Spotify employees message as: If you are a part of any anti-Spotify campaigns which we know are brewing, then you need to know that marketing dollars will not be spent to support you. (Spotify denied that the company said this.)
The truth of the situation was misrepresented to the benefit of Spotifys perspective, says one hit-making songwriter
Another member of the songwriting community also heard this report. I know the story about the inference that was made if they spoke up against Spotify, Spotify might take a view on where they would spend their marketing dollars, he says. Thats an exceedingly stupid thing for somebody to say. I know a couple of Spotify executives know about it. The people I know who know about it were mortified and embarrassed. With stories like this in circulation, it makes sense that even as the songwriters open letter to Spotify was in the works last week, nearly everyone who spoke for this story did so on the condition of anonymity.
Since the non-Apple streaming services announced their decision to appeal the CRBs ruling, Spotifys relationship with songwriters has become only more strained. Israelite says Spotifys blog post was filled with lies and attempts to confuse and misdirection and spin. So the NMPA hit back with its own meticulously truculent counter-post, challenging Spotifys statement line by line.
While Spotify was making public statements about its intentions, the company approached a number of songwriters, especially those who had been feted as Secret Geniuses and celebrated with billboards, parties and playlists collecting their hits, to start private conversations. They called a lot of us directly trying to convince us to put down our weapons, explains a second frustrated hit-writer. I was misled in the communication. The truth of the situation was misrepresented to the benefit of Spotifys perspective.
Spotify has a songwriter-relations team that is in regular contact with the writing community. But the Secret Genius reach-out was perceived by some as a divide-and-conquer approach. They try to put their arm around us and say, Its one big industry, were all friends, and then they go try and split off key songwriters, says another music industry executive who deals often with Spotify. That doesnt work.
Songwriters say Spotify asked them to participate in town hall-style meetings. The response of the songwriters was they wouldnt participate unless the NMPA was also allowed to participate so they could hear a back and forth, Israelite says. Writers arent necessarily in the weeds; theyre not all attorneys. When that happened, Spotify went dark.
Despite this seemingly cold shoulder, the NMPA and the Nashville Songwriters Association International decided to carry on with town halls with or without Spotifys presence. The first took place last week in Nashville. The NMPA invited all the streaming services to make their case. But in another bit of strategic maneuvering that doubled as a slap in the face, none of the streaming services showed up. Writers and publishers were left to rail helplessly against an absent enemy.
The CRBs rate increase is already in effect. However, if theres an appeal thats pending, that appeal could be applied retroactively, which means that the increase in rates that songwriters are entitled to, they might owe back, Israelite says. This, in turn, means publishers are likely going to have to escrow that money during the appeal. Songwriters are not going to enjoy the rate increase during the appeal, which is unfair and unfortunate.
And thats part of the reason some writers worry their relationship with Spotify is permanently ruptured. Appeals take a long time, one says. If it takes a year, whether they win or dont win, [our relationship with the streaming service] cant be repaired.
Some in the songwriting community still hope Spotify will drop its opposition to the CRBs ruling, even as it claims its only acting for the good of the industry. Theyre blaming [their stance] on writers, blaming it on Apple, blaming it on record labels, one writer says. But I think the person whos blaming that many people probably should look in the mirror.