Spotify ESG fail: Governance
Because of Spotify’s monopoly power and voting stock, Daniel Ek and his partner control streaming music.
Category: Spotify Class Action
Not You, ARPU: Another way to value streams on Spotify
Spotify’s economic disparity is way worse than you thought when you value streams based on market capitalization.
@ashleyjanamusic’s Video Tells You All You Need to Know About Spotify’s Attitude Toward Artists
Spotify exec says come for the exposure, stay for the mansplaining.
Mystery Redaction in Spotify Filing for Eight Mile Style Lawsuit
“We never get accustomed to being less important to other people than they are to us.” Holly Martins in The Third Man by Graham Greene As MTP readers will recall (especially newsletter readers), Spotify is being sued in Nashville by the publishers of a good chunk of Eminem’s extremely popular catalogs (on albums each streamed […]
$20 Million a Month Daniel Ek Shows “Million a Month” Tim Westergren How It’s Done
Remember when we were all appalled that Pandora founder Tim Westergren was making $1,000,000 a month from selling Pandora stock while he was behind fighting songwriters in rate court for ASCAP and BMI royalties and stiffing artists with the Internet Radio Fairness Act and refusing to pay pre-72 artists? And then there was the 13 bathroom house in Marin. It was all a bit hard to stomach.
According to Jem Aswad in Variety, Daniel Ek is putting Westergren in the rear view mirror for sheer excess.
@songpreneurs: Why Is Tom Petty Suing Spotify and How Does This Relate to the Music Modernization Act? — Artist Rights Watch
Editor Charlie sez: Another songwriter group against the controversial Music Modernization Act! See the Songwriter’s Guild opposition letter here and read the legislation here.]
@philouza: New Bill Calling For Transparency In Music Is Surprisingly Opaque — Artist Rights Watch
NPR’s Andrew Flanagan on the controversial Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act (TIMLAOA). via @philouza: New Bill Calling For Transparency In Music Is Surprisingly Opaque — Artist Rights Watch
Why Spotify Needs A Magistrate
Spotify was served in federal court in Nashville with two new lawsuits for massive copyright infringement by parties represented by Richard Busch (who has a strong track record in the area). Based on the allegations in the complaint and reports about what appear to be breaches of Spotify’s recently concluded settlement with NMPA, it seems […]
Spotify’s Songwriter Charm Offensive Stops Short in Sweden with STIM
According to MusicAlly, Spotify has recently taken dodging songwriters to a whole new level by refusing to pay the Swedish authors’ collecting society Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå or “STIM.” That’s right—Spotify the Swedish company is stiffing the Swedish collecting society STIM for payments to Swedish songwriters (and any other writers STIM collects for). And in a great example of Spotify’s seemingly endless right hand/left hand problem, Spotify is stiffing STIM at the same time as Spotify is launching its high profile charm offensive for superstar songwriters (“Spotify Secret Genius”) and trying to get a federal judge to approve a class action settlement.
Just Say No: Will Spotify Still Be Seeking Forgiveness During Its IPO?
[A version of this post appeared in last month’s MusicTechPolicy Monthly.] While Spotify’s technocrats may be breathing a sigh of relief after the company’s most recent multimillion dollar settlement with songwriters, it is well to remember that the company is probably not anywhere close to out of the woods. As others have learned the hard […]
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