Are Spotify and Amazon suing songwriters?
WHAT’S THE RUMOUR Are Spotify and Amazon suing songwriters? Have you heard the one about the world’s biggest music-streaming services suing musicians and songwriters? That’s the story that’s been doing the social-media rounds, with a slew of top industry figures criticising Spotify and Amazon for apparently taking artists to court, rather than pay artists increased royalties from streams. Leading the charge is David Israelite, President of America’s National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) , who decried Spotify and Amazon’s move to “sue songwriters in a shameful attempt to cut their payments by nearly one-third”. The truth is a little more nuanced than the outraged tweets might have you believe: Spotify and Amazon , along with Google and Pandora, have 30 days to appeal a ruling by the US Copyright Royalty Board that would see songwriters’ royalties shoot up by 44% over five years. So, it’s a ‘yes and no’ – Spotify and Amazon are locking horns with the music industry in the...