Get the latest gossip

What if Streaming Royalties Favored Listening to Songs in their Entirety?

What if streaming royalties favored listening to full songs? Former Spotify economist Will Page proposes rewarding songs that keep people listening.

“If we are going to depart from the pro rata model, which has served us since Rhapsody got its license in December 2001 — which is 23-plus years ago — then we need a baby step that doesn’t mess with royalty accounting,” says Page. As Page explains in an interview with Billboard, he gained confidence in completion-based royalty accounting after learning that completion rates surpass 90% once a person has been listening longer than three minutes. He told the story about a wedding band that played a two-and-a-half-hour medley because people don’t have the attention spans for full songs anymore.

Get the Android app