Here in the U.S. the banks are closed today as is the post office. Employees at lots of businesses, in fact, get the day off as Americans celebrate the Independence Day holiday. And since it falls on a Monday this year it means that many folks – as evidenced by all the “prepare yourselves, travelers” stories last week – got a head start when the workday ended last Thursday.
Throughout all my years in communications I’ve always known that it’s really frowned upon to send out a press release on a Friday. Unless it’s bad news that you DO want buried, overlooked, and little coverage of, you don’t want to make an announcement at a time when the news cycle is different and there are weekend staffs to contend with. And sadly, some important news did, in a sense, get buried when it occurred three days ago.
Rejoice, songwriters, because, lost in this long holiday weekend is the fact that on Friday the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) maintained its decision to increase the headline rate paid to songwriters in the United States from on-demand streaming services between 2018-2022.
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I know you’re looking at that span of time and scratching your head about a ruling three days ago that includes a period of time that started four years ago.
This is because four-and-a-half years ago the CRB had ruled that songwriter/publisher royalty rates for streaming and other mechanical uses were to go up quite a bit here in the States. And by quite a bit we’re talking about seeing the rate go from 10.5 to 15.1 percent. But, of course, as we see in so (so) many cases of various natures (meaning, not just the music industry), there was an appeal.
Spotify, Amazon, Google/Alphabet, and others (but not Apple) obviously didn’t like the ruling and that brings us to the final decision three days ago.
So yes, there will be retroactive payouts.
While there are elements of the ruling that don’t make this a one hundred percent win for songwriters, it’s still really great news. In fact, I’m waiting for Blake Morgan to come out with a reaction to it, if not Zack Greenburg. Both of them have been a guest twice on my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast. While I loved talking to Morgan again on Episode 386, it was his first appearance (on NHTE 208) when he talked about being in a closed-door meeting at Spotify where things got heated over the issue of unfair payouts to creators. Greenburg, meanwhile, was senior editor of media and entertainment at Forbes when I interviewed him on NHTE 325 (and then he came back for Episode 416) and during our first conversation he too had talked about Spotify.
To be clear, this is not to single out Spotify but rather emphasize how truly important this topic has been for some time now and thus why this is such a big story (despite the ruling coming out on a Friday) and why it’s worth celebrating today.
Of course, there’s still more work to be done.
You’ve either heard on “Now Hear This Entertainment” and/or read on this site in my weekly blog about just a handful of the many, many organizations working on behalf of songwriters, performers and more (I’m thinking here about MusiCares and the National Independent Venue Association, among countless others). Well, no sooner did the champagne corks popped by the National Music Publishers’ Association fall to the floor than did they exhale and smile at a job well done but realize that it’s back to the bargaining table now for the 2023-2027 period, relative to proceedings that will determine what songwriters in the U.S. get paid from streaming services during that time period.
For today, enjoy your 4th of July celebration and do also salute the men and women who’ve created the music that provides the soundtrack for your party today. There is a victory for them that should be celebrated right now too.
I’ve been helping independent artists from around the U.S. for more than 18 years now, providing management, promotion, and booking services under the Now Hear This, Inc. umbrella. Take advantage of all my years in the business by booking a private, one-on-one online video consultation with me and let’s tackle the challenges that you’re facing. Our discussion is completely confidential and is done with the aim of keeping your career moving forward. I’d welcome the opportunity to lend some insights to all that you’re doing.
(NOTE: Some information for this post was taken from Music Business Worldwide’s report on July 1st.)