Royalties on music streaming platforms is still a hotly debated topic because there are plenty of artists who feel that the amount they get from streaming isn’t as much compared to a la carte purchases or physical album sales. While larger artists might not be as affected as they have other sources of revenue and might have better deals, this is a problem for smaller indie acts.
However the good news for such acts is that Spotify could have a solution to the problem. In a report from Billboard, they have heard from their sources that Spotify apparently plans on offering indie acts advances, which basically means a lump sum of money upfront, in exchange for these acts to directly license their music with Spotify.
This would mean that they would get 50% of the per-stream revenue, which according to Billboard is less than 54% which is under conventional arrangements. However the ability to bypass publishers who will take additional cuts could mean more money in the long run. The best part is that Spotify is not asking artists to turn over their rights or make their music exclusive, which means that these artists can go and shop their music to other streaming platforms such as Apple.
If this report is true, it is an interesting approach by Spotify especially when you consider the recent rumors that Apple has formed their own publishing division.
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