The term “breakage” dates back to a time when records were made of shellac and could break during transport. Of course, a label could no longer sell these records, and so clauses were included in the label contracts at the time to ensure that breakage was not considered when calculating the artists’ share. However, the…

In addition to the pro-rata and user-centric models discussed in detail in part 14, there are other alternative approaches to distributing streaming revenues among rightsholders. These models, as well as the concept of equitable remuneration used in the distribution of radio and TV royalties, will be examined in more detail in this part of the…

In addition to the pro-rata and user-centric models for distributing music streaming revenues, which were highlighted in part 15, a model negotiated between the French music streaming service Deezer and Universal Music Group has recently attracted a lot of media attention. However, it is not the user-centric model that Deezer has advocated in the past,…

As we saw in part 14 of the series on the streaming economy, most music creators receive so little revenue from streaming music that it is economically irrelevant. To understand this better, we need to look at the accounting mechanism for music streaming revenues. The most common model is the pro-rata model, which distributes revenue…

Although the disputes between some superstars and Spotify have ended in favour of the Swedish streaming service, Swift & Yorke have nevertheless revealed weaknesses in the business model of music streaming from the point of view of the artists. The main beneficiaries of the streaming economy are the music majors, and little falls to the…

Spotify has repeatedly been criticised for underpaying artists, while keeping around 30 per cent of its revenue from music streaming. The campaigns against Spotify by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift, which resulted in the two superstars boycotting Spotify for years, attracted massive media attention. This blog post aims to shed light on the…

On 24 January 2018 the Latin superstar Enrique Iglesias filed a lawsuit against Universal International Music for “systematically underpaying streaming royalties” (complaint, Enrique Iglesias vs. Universal International Music, January 24, 2018). The lawyers of Iglesias argue that Universal Music should have paid 50 percent of the net revenue from the streaming services. Instead Iglesias was…

The Rethink Music initiative recently published a report on “Fair Music: Transparency and Money Flows in the Music Industry”. The report identifies barriers in the money flows to artist and states:”[O]nly a small proportion of the money beyond the initial recording advances ultimately makes its way to artists as ongoing revenue.” (Rethink Music, 2015: 3).…

Some artists have unveiled their royalties’ statements highlighting that just a small proportion of their income comes from music streaming services (e.g. cellist Zoe Keating in February 2013). However, the question remains open if and how the superstars benefit from shift to the music streaming business? In the following analysis the top superstars’ income from…

In mid of July 2013 Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke caused for controversies when he pulled his song catalogue and those of his band Atoms For Peace from music streaming service Spotify. His straight forward argument was as cited in The Guardian that “new artists get paid fuck all with this model”. Several artists take the…

Peter DiCola of Northwestern University School of Law and partner in the “Artists Revenue Streams”-project of the “Future of Music Coalition” has recently published a working paper entitled “Money from Music: Survey Evidence on Musicians’ Revenue and Lessons About Copyright Incentives”, which also will be published in the Arizona Law Review. Based on data of…