PRO’s complained that
streaming services are not fair to their songwriters. They just want to update the calculating royalties
for songwriters and composers. Representatives are using antitrust consent
decree. It’s an anti trust law made back in 1941. The issue is brought to the
federal government to determine everything. Everyone knows streaming is taking
over. Currently, Jay Z bought a streaming service called Tidal. He’s hoping it
will be a big streaming service such as Pandora, Spotify and iTunes.
CEO of ASCAP, Elizabeth Mathews, stated, “The
use of music has increased exponentially, but the payments have not followed.”
She thinks some day the there won’t be any PROs anymore and everyone will
switch to streaming.
I think that the songwriters do get paid too little. Many listeners always play music from
streaming services daily. Some songwriters never got paid. There’s an article about
singer-songwriter, Ne-Yo, complaining about the streaming services and wants to
warn other songwriters. Here the link: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2015/04/23/ne-yo-streaming-companies-enjoy-billion-dollar-revenues-at-our-expense
It takes 1 million streams for a songwriter to receive $90.
If there are multiple songwriters in one song, then that $90 is split. On the other hand, Tidal want artists to have
more control of their songs. There are advantages and disadvantages for both
the consumer and songwriters.
Streaming service companies are defiantly taking advantage
of consent decrees and songwriters. Songwriter Equity Act that can help shape
up the licensing system. There might be a change, but no guarantee. Technology
is changing our future and it does affect the music industry. It’s hard for a
songwriter to make money because of publishing companies, collaborations,
piracy and streaming services. I do agree with Ne-Yo because streaming services
are a billion dollars companies. Streaming companies generate revenues from subscriptions
and advertisements, but listeners can listen to free music all day.
