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by strken 1281 days ago
Can you or jrm4 explain why Spotify's royalty system (a 70/30 split in favour of the rights holder) is unfair?

If I had to guess I'd say it convinces artists to license their work for less money than they'd make if they stuck it on Bandcamp, but I'm not certain, and neither of you has explained it.
2 comments
jrm4 1281 days ago
I specifically said "hasn't improved much" instead of "unfair" because I do realize that it wasn't particularly fair before?

At present, it seems like the most fair thing would be to just be honest about the fact that royalties from Spotify and royalties from piracy for the vast majority of artists is roughly equal. :)

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iamacyborg 1281 days ago
Spotify don’t pay 70/30 and the actual payout is not related to what individuals actually listen to.

For example, I could spend a month listening to only indie artists, but the lion’s share of my subscription would be paid out to major labels.

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strken 1281 days ago
The Hypebot explanation suggests it's more complicated than that: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2021/11/how-spotify-royaltie...

I have no idea whether it's correct or not.

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