Half Of Spotify's Royalties In 2024 Are Given To Indie Musicians

JAKARTA - The disparity between independent musicians (indie) and those under big music labels seems no longer a problem if we talk about royalties from digital platforms.

As is known, Spotify in its latest report announced that it has paid 10 billion US dollars in music royalties (Rp164 trillion) throughout 2024. The platform based in Luxembourg and Stockholm confirmed that for the second year in a row, they paid half of the royalties to independent artists.

"This shows the opportunities and options the artist currently has," said Sam Duboff, Head of Marketing and Global Policy Spotify for Music Business, reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Thursday, March 13.

According to Duboff, things are possible through streaming platforms. Artists have more control over the way they have their music careers.

"You see a lot of artists opting to follow the big label paths that make the progress and life-changing resources that accompany them, you see indie labels in the middle with some of the same services but artists get bigger pieces," he said. Then you see many fully independent DIY artists who store 100 percent of their royalties and promote themselves.

Even so, The Hollywood Reporter believes the report will likely not dampen much criticism, as most of the songs on the platform don't get enough streaming to qualify for monetization.

Spotify is also said to have irritated the songwriters' community last year over the controversial bundling strategy that caused songwriters to be paid lower royalty rates. Mechanical Licensing Collective also sued Spotify for the bundling strategy, although a judge rejected the lawsuit in January.

Furthermore, Spotify's report says it has paid $4.5 billion to songwriters and publishers in the last two years.

"The growth of people who upload music will always exceed the growth rate of the number of people who made it," said Duboff. We see our role as a provider of transparency and data as much as possible about our role in the ecosystem. And our hope is that it will inspire more transparency from other parts of the ecosystem.

Duboff melanjutkan, Tidak ada layanan streaming lain yang telah menerbitkan data transparan tentang pembayaran mereka atau berapa banyak artis yang menghasilkan jumlah yang berbeda. Tentu saja ada banyak narasi yang dibicarakan orang ketika berbicara tentang royalitas, saya pikir seiring berjalannya waktu, data dan fakta akan mulai mengalami narasi tersebut.