It’s Time To Fairly Compensate Songwriters
Streaming services pay pennies per stream to the creators of your favorite songs, including songwriters, producers and artists. That needs to change. It’s about time that Spotify, Pandora, Google and Amazon compensate songwriters fairly.
Songwriting is an art and a craft that evolves and grows with the more songs you write. Artists of all types need to be fairly compensated for their work.
When I listen to music, I take to heart the lyrics that the writers poured their hearts and souls into. I love when I can connect to a song on a deeper level. Music helps me process my emotions and make me feel less alone. I fell in love with an entire genre for that reason. Country music artists have the ability to relate to their fans on a personal level through their lyrics that no other genre is capable of having. Being from New York delayed my discovery of country music, but when I finally discovered country music in high school, I felt seen and heard in a way that had never happened before.
When I moved to Nashville 4 years ago and started working in the music industry, I got to know artists on a more personal level. I learned that they are just like me: struggling with anxiety and growing, but also celebrating the good times. Karissa Ella, Mac Watts, and twin duo The Hobbs Sisters are all upcoming country music artists, and they have a lot to say.
“As a songwriter there is nothing more satisfying than watching a crowd fall in love with our songs or getting messages from fans talking about what our songs have meant to them.”— The Hobbs Sisters
“When someone tells me that a song I wrote helped them get through hard times or helped keep the good times rolling, that’s special.” — Mac Watts
“Music makes the world go round, and I think its creators are being taken for granted.” — Karissa Ella
Karissa Ella makes a good point — “creators are being taken for granted.” Songwriters, producers, and other creatives are being unfairly compensated for their art by streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Google, and Apple. These artists put everything they have into each song they write and record, only to receive pennies per stream. Yet, their music labels receive half of the profits. How is that fair to independent artists, songwriters and publishing companies? How are they expected to devote the time and energy into their art when they have to have a “normal” job just to make ends meet?
It’s not fair to those working tirelessly to get their music heard! That is why in 2018, the Music Modernization Act (MMA) was introduced to Congress to start the process of fairly compensating everyone involved in the creation of music. With the rise of streaming services and a decrease in physical and digital sales, it was important to modernize the way the music industry functions. It was time to take the analog ways of doing things and bring it into the digital, streaming age.
History Of Streaming
Somewhere around 2014, I remember friends saying they were streaming music on this new platform called Spotify. Although I am a music lover and someone that had to have my favorite artist’s newest album, I was still skeptical of it. I knew that artists made a profit from album sales, but I didn’t know how this streaming platform worked, so I continued to buy albums and singles on iTunes for a little while longer. Eventually, I followed the trend and started streaming music on Spotify, not knowing how little the songwriters were getting paid. But how did we get all the way to streaming music directly from our phones?
iPods and iTunes
I was in 7th grade when the iPod was released. It seemed like everyone I knew got an iPod color for their birthdays that year, but not me. I was sticking it out with my CD player until 9th grade when I finally got an iPod Video. It was a complete game changer for how I listened to music. I was able to upload all my CD’s to it and just download music into iTunes. I had everything I needed in one small rectangle. iTunes allowed me to upload all my favorite CD’s onto my iPod, but I could also buy digital CD’s or just a single.
Illegal Downloading
Digital music music brought about websites like Napster, where anyone could illegally download music. This meant that artists, songwriters, producers, anyone involved in the song process, wouldn’t get paid for their efforts. I admit, I naively used these websites too, but that is something I am not proud of.
Streaming Platforms
This eventually led to the creation of Spotify and Pandora, two platforms that allowed users to stream any song they wanted, when they wanted. Like I mentioned, I was skeptical at first. I have always been a bit behind the trends, letting my peers test them out before I jump on board. When I finally decided to download Spotify to my phone, I felt like it changed the way I listened to music. I could save all my favorite songs and albums in one place, discover new music the day it’s released and discover new artists on Spotify’s editorial playlist. It was great, until I learned how little the creatives were getting paid, only to then I learned that it was across the board on all streaming platforms — Google, Apple, Amazon and Pandora.
Music Modernization Act
In 2018, a piece of legislation was introduced in Congress called the Music Modernization Act (MMA). It was “the first substantive reform to the nation’s music copyright laws” and is “improving the licensing system and increasing digital royalty payouts to songwriters” (Rau 2018). In other words the MMA is creating a better system for copyrights, finding all parties involved in the creation process to make sure everyone is paid. The act was supported across party lines as well as by all areas of the music industry. Even artists like Paul McCartheny and Maren Morris were speaking out in support of the Music Modernization Act.
Mitch Glazier, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America told The Tennessean, “The result is a bill that moves us toward a modern music licensing landscape better founded on fair market rates and fair pay for all.”
What Is It?
The Music Modernization Act has created a brand new organization whose sole purpose is to “identify the copyright owners for a song’s composition and to pay them the digital royalties they are owed when their music is played” on streaming services (Rau 2018). This new organization is called The Mechanical Licensing Collective, which is run by publishers and songwriters and their responsibility is finding the copyright owners for a song off the streaming services. By doing this, it ensures that everyone gets compensated for their creative efforts.
Another part of the Music Modernization Act “improve[s] royalty payouts for songwriters by creating a new legal standard that judges can use to set rates” (Rau 2018).
The Music Modernization Act also created “a new digital royalty for producers and engineers” (Rau 2018).
Why Is It Important
The Music Modernization Act is important for a few different reasons.
- It changed how the royalty rates get paid out.
Prior to the Music Modernization Act, the division of streaming profits was unfair. “Publishers/songwriters are paid that 10%-15% headline share of Spotify’s revenues (divided up by their market share), while the major record labels are understood to be paid a 52% share (divided up by their market share)” (Ingham 2020). At the same time the headline royalty rate for songwriters and publishers was “10.5% of their annual US streaming revenues” (Ingham 2020). After the Music Modernization Act came into play. The Copyright Royalty Board ordered that for “five years from 2018 onwards, this ‘all in’ rate would rise by around 1% annually, up to 15.1% in 2022” (Ingham 2020).
2. It creates equality and standardization across the music industry
It shouldn’t matter whether or not you have a publishing deal, a record deal or are an independent artist, everyone deserves to be paid for their part in a song. The Mechanical Licensing Collective and the Copyright Royalty Board created a standard across the board for all artists, songwriters and producers to get their fair share of the pie.
The Industry Reacts
Each time the Music Modernization Act has come across in Congress, artists and songwriters across genres speak out in support of it. In 2019, the Music Artist Coalition (MAC) was formed. This coalition includes Maren Morris, Shane McAnally, Ali Harnell, Irving Azoff, Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw, among others to “advocate for and protect artists’ rights” (Nicholson 2019). The true fate of artists’ futures is being decided by bureaucrats and politicians, not artists themselves. The Music Artist Coalition is looking to educate, inform and protect artists’ rights. This includes independent artists as well.
Rising Artists Have Opinions Too
With the ability to record and share your own music, there is a new generation of independent and DIY artists making a splash in the music industry. These artists are unable to support themselves off of streaming alone. The Hobbs Sisters mentioned that “it’s very difficult to make any significant form of income from streaming alone, even if you have songs that are performing well on the platform.” There is a team behind each song being released, “ranging from writers to the artist to producers, engineers, album art, publicity, marketing and so on to release a song. People do not realize there are so many moving parts and it takes money to make it happen” according to Karissa Ella. Having worked on multiple releases, I know just how hard everyone on the team works to make the release their best one yet. It is all worthwhile to the artists, and the team, when fans are able to relate to their songs. Lauren and Hannah Hobbs said, “we love hearing that our songs and stories resonate with [fans]! We put a lot of personal experiences into our songs and it’s always so encouraging to hear that our listeners can relate to the ideas we write about.” Mac Watts echoes that sentiment, “When someone tells me that a song I wrote helped them get through hard times or helped keep the good times rolling, that’s special.”
Through working on artists teams, it is evident that passion and fan connection is what keeps these singer/songwriters pushing forward. Streaming is great for exposure and engagement according to both Mac Watts and The Hobbs Sisters, but their true drive comes from the fans themselves. “As a songwriter there is nothing more satisfying than watching a crowd fall in love with our songs,” said The Hobbs Sisters and Mac Watts said, “there is no better feeling than capturing an audience and being in the moment with them!” As a fan of music, I love hearing this! There is no better feeling than getting back the same level of passion and excitement you are giving to the artist on stage. The fan/artist connection is such a special one.
Knowing that they will not get a financial return from their streams, the fact that it can be shared with millions across the world is what keeps them sharing their music on Spotify and other streaming services. If you want to support them and other independent artists, engage with them on social media, buy their merchandise, go to their live shows and don’t forget to stream their music too!
What’s Next
It’s clear to see that although streaming is not artists main form of income, that their connection to their fans is the most important thing. They love the act of writing songs in hopes of creating a connection with their fans through shared experiences. As a fan, to me, this is the most important thing.
Although the industry has come a long way over the past few years, there is still a long way to go with getting equal compensation for those behind the songs. It truly does take a village just to release one song to the public. The Music Modernization Act is just the first step and there are still kinks to be worked out. As someone who not only loves music, but works on the business side of it, I am excited to see where the industry will be in the future.
