Spotify, Google Appeal Ruling That Boosted Songwriter Payments
- Move threatens to further damage relationship with songwriters
- Apple is the biggest tech company that didn’t participate
Spotify Technology SA and other technology giants appealed a ruling that increased the royalties they must pay to songwriters, a move that threatens to further damage the companies’ already-tenuous relationship with the music industry.
Songwriters celebrated last year when the Copyright Royalty Board ruled that they will get at least a 15.1 percent share of streaming revenues over the next five years, a raise from the previous rate of 10.5 percent. The bump, which came in January 2018, was the biggest ever, the National Music Publishers Association said at the time.