This past weekend saw a major move that will greatly affect all the songwriters and their global earnings. The Copyright Royalty Board passed a new rule that will make all songwriters earn close to 50% more on streaming services over the course of the next five years.
CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association, David Israelite, calls the move “the biggest rate increase granted in CRB history," making platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Pandora and Spotify pay out more cash to the writers of some of the biggest tracks.
Variety reports that writers were initially looking for profit based on a 'per-stream rate' that was denied, resulting in the latest updates. “Crucially, the decision also allows songwriters to benefit from deals done by record labels in the free market," David added. "The ratio of what labels are paid by the services versus what publishers are paid has significantly improved, resulting in the most favourable balance in the history of the industry.”
As a proper breakdown, for every $3.82 to a recording label the writer or publisher receives $1.
Not too long ago we posted on the top songwriters of 2017, where the five biggest artists were mostly hip hop names. Leyland Wayne, known better to most music fans as Metro Boomin' took the top spot, followed by Quavo and Kendrick Lamar. Check out the full list here.
