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Spotify, Songwriters Want You to Succeed. Why Do You Keep Hurting Them? (Guest Column)
In this guest post, Kobalt Music CEO Laurent Hubert slams Spotify's recent music-audiobooks bundle, which cuts deeply into songwriter royalties.
Now, in one of the most aggressive moves in its 18-year history, Spotify has added audiobooks to their premium subscription music service and declared it a “bundle”, intentionally depriving songwriters of an estimated $150 million (and growing) per year in royalties. Additionally, Spotify’s longstanding reluctance (until very recently) to raise subscription prices — although that rise is not even close to keeping up with inflation — and the costly swing-for-the-fences bet on podcasts, have been a drag on the company’s performance and potential. Adding insult to injury, a recent unfortunate post from its Founder & CEO says that the cost of making content is close to zero, giving a clear signal to the creative community that, for Spotify, music is nothing more than a commodity.
Or read this on Variety