Spotify Accused in Suit of Cheating Songwriters Out of Royalties
- Publishers, streaming service are in a dispute over bundling
- Company says it’s on track to pay musicians a record amount
Spotify Technology SA used a legalistic word change to justify slicing royalties to musicians and publishers, reducing the revenue on which royalties are based by almost 50%, according to lawsuit filed by the group that collects their payments.
The change came in March when Spotify added the word “bundled” to its description of its $10.99-a-month music streaming service, the Mechanical Licensing Collective said in its complaint. Nothing else “about the Premium service has actually changed,” according to the suit filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.