{"id":2620,"date":"2025-06-11T23:53:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T23:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/npma-spotify-bundling-lost-songwriters-publishers-230m\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T23:53:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T23:53:19","slug":"npma-spotify-bundling-lost-songwriters-publishers-230m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/npma-spotify-bundling-lost-songwriters-publishers-230m\/","title":{"rendered":"NMPA Says Spotify Bundling Change Cost Writers & Publishers $230M in First\u00a0Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tU.S. music publishing revenue rose 17% to $7.04 billion in 2024, the National Music Publishers\u2019 Association (NMPA) revealed at its annual meeting on Wednesday (June 11). Last year, the trade organization reported total revenue at $6.2 billion, which was up 10.71% from the previous year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe event, held at Alice Tulley Hall at New York\u2019s Lincoln Center, is considered a state-of-the-union for U.S. music publishers, and this year, its CEO\/president, David Israelite<\/strong>, and general counsel, Danielle Aguirre<\/strong>, focused their presentation on both celebrating hitmakers \u2014 like award recipients Kacey Musgraves<\/a>, Rhett Akins<\/a>, Gracie Abrams<\/a> and Aaron Dessner<\/a> \u2014 and on talking about ways to grow revenue even more.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSpotify Beats MLC Audiobook Lawsuit After Judge Calls Federal Royalty Rules \u2018Unambiguous\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tThere was also a strong focus on calling on the industry, from executives to songwriters and artists, to stand together. As Israelite said, \u201cWe should all stand behind [songwriters]\u2026There has never been a greater need to stand up for the value of songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAguirre and Israelite pointed to three key battlegrounds where remuneration can improve if the industry sticks together: general licensing (licensing for bars, restaurants, venues, etc.); social media; and interactive streaming. As Aguirre noted, 72% of publishing income is under \u201cburdensome regulations\u201d in the U.S. \u2014 whether by consent decree or compulsory license \u2014 but there are still ways to improve that within the current system.<\/p>\n

\n\tInteractive Streaming<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFor interactive streaming, Aguirre reminded the crowd that Phonorecords V proceedings at the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which will determine the rate that songwriters and publishers will be paid for U.S. mechanical royalties from 2028-2032, are \u201cfast approaching\u201d in the next six months.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of the biggest challenges [for interactive streaming income] continues to come from Spotify\u2019s mischaracterization of its music service into bundles, which forced the conversion of over 44 million subscribers into bundled platforms that those subscribers did not request,\u201d Aguirre said. (Earlier this year, the Mechanical Licensing Collective\u2019s lawsuit against Spotify<\/a>, which claimed the company\u2019s bundling of premium tiers and resultant cutting of payments to songwriters and publishers was unlawful, was dismissed by a judge who said the rules were \u201cunambiguous.\u201d However, the NMPA continues to attack the platform through various means, including sending mass takedown notices for podcasts and videos on Spotify that do not properly license music.)<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAmazon Music Now Has Audible\u2019s Audiobook Catalog \u2014 And the NMPA Is \u2018Optimistic\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tAguirre revealed that in the first year of Spotify\u2019s new bundling change alone, publishers and writers have lost over \u201c$230 million\u2026and these losses will continue if we can\u2019t reverse or correct Spotify actions,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, if we don\u2019t stop them, we are projected to lose over $3.1 billion through the next CRB period [which ends in 2032].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps taking a cue from Spotify, Amazon has also bundled its music service with other offerings, allowing it to cut royalty rates for songwriters and publishers in the U.S. \u2014 another change Aguirre hit on in her remarks. \u201cIn just the last three months, we\u2019ve seen a 40% decrease in music revenue from Amazon, which has hit the PROs particularly hard,\u201d she said. Notably, the NMPA had a much more hopeful outlook on the Amazon bundle when it was announced; at the time, the organization released a statement<\/a> saying it was \u201coptimistic\u201d about Amazon\u2019s new offering and had \u201cengaged\u201d with the company in a \u201crespectful and productive way\u201d to find a compensation model for publishers that \u201cwill not decrease revenue for songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSocial Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSocial media is one of the rare areas of publishing where publishers and songwriters can negotiate without any government interference \u2014 and the NMPA is hopeful about capitalizing on that. To date, the income stream is still small: Aguirre reported that social sites like TikTok, Instagram, X and others only make up 2% of income for publishers in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, Israelite believes songwriters have the power to say no to this level of compensation and force the companies to treat them better.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tA Comprehensive Guide to Comments Submitted in the Copyright Office’s Notice of Inquiry Regarding\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s important for songwriters to understand they already have the power to strike,\u201d he said, despite the fact that songwriters do not qualify for a traditional union. \u201cThey do so when the people they entrust to license their songs, the music publishers and collecting societies, say no. There are key industries, such as social media, user-generated content, artificial intelligence training and lyric rights, where songwriters have the power to say no. But too often, when a music publisher or a PRO stands up to licensees who don\u2019t want to pay fair rates, we run into a unique problem that plagues the songwriting industry: Songwriters don\u2019t stick together. This is a tough conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCase in point: Just last year, Universal Music Group removed its catalog from TikTok in an effort to fight for its \u201cfair value.\u201d However, as Billboard <\/em>reported at the time<\/a>, a number of artists, including Ariana Grande<\/a>, Beyonce<\/a> and Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>, found ways around the ban to continue using the platform for marketing purposes.<\/p>\n

\n\tGeneral Licensing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe final area of focus the NMPA addressed at the meeting was general licensing, or the performance license required to play music in public spaces like restaurants, bars, venues and clubs. While Aguirre noted that this only made up for 5% of total revenue last year, she said that \u201cthere is a substantial opportunity for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne concern is the lack of licensing from many of these venues. For the first time, we have insight into just how much money is being lost to unlicensed mid-sized venues,\u201d said Aguirre. In a recent study, she said the NMPA found that 80% of \u201cvenues that have 50 or fewer locations but are large enough to require performance licenses\u2026misuse consumer streaming services to provide that music.\u201d Others, she added, are using business-to-business (B2B) music services that \u201care not obtaining all of the necessary rights for the services that they are offering. Some provide features like offline listening, interactive music experiences and on-demand streaming without securing appropriate mechanical licenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMusic Publishing Markets Around the Globe Worth Over $11 Billion, Says First-Ever ICMP\u00a0Report\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tTo remedy this issue, the NMPA announced it\u2019s sending six cease and desist letters to B2B music services that are allegedly not properly paying for music. The organization did not specify the names of these B2B vendors.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe NMPA\u2019s attack on B2B music suppliers comes on the heels of the U.S. Copyright Office\u2019s Notice of Inquiry regarding U.S. PROs, wrapping up its first comment period.<\/a> While bars, restaurants, clubs and other public spaces license music from PROs to use in their venues, some recently complained about the PROs\u2019 alleged \u201clack of transparency\u201d and the fact that there\u2019s been a so-called \u201cproliferation\u201d of new PROs in the market, complicating (and perhaps increasing the cost of) the licensing process. While most countries have just one, maybe two, PRO options for writers and publishers to join, the U.S. now has six: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, AllTrack and PMR.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall Breakdown of Publishing Income Streams<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAs reported by the NMPA, the breakdown of income streams for U.S. publishers and songwriters is as follows:<\/p>\n

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