NMPA

🚨Attention #Spotify users! Here’s what Spotify doesn’t want you to know: how to switch your subscription out of their bundle trap and help #songwriters .

Via #MusicBusinessWorldwide - Elsewhere, David Israelite, CEO and President of the #NMPA , said of the lawsuits, which are being coordinated by the #RIAA : “This case is precedent-setting and integral to artists’ rights as human creators. Millions of people already use these tools which amounts to countless infringements on real #musicians .” Read more: /major-labels-plan-to-cost-suno-and-udio-billions-and-why-it-all-rests-on-michael-buble/ #ai #suno #udio

Amazing performance by Stephen Sanchez honoring #NMPA Songwriter Icon Lana Del Rey with his rendition of her gorgeous song “Margaret” (feat. #Bleachers ) at our Annual Meeting on June 12 at Alice Tully Hall. 👏 👏 👏 Congrats to you both on your #Fenway debut last night!! #lanadelrey #backstage #stephensanchez #margaret

Via @musicallybiz - To quickly recap: after adding audiobooks, #Spotify recently reclassified its premium tier as a ‘bundle’, which means lower mechanical royalty payments. Cue a furious protest from the #NMPA ; a letter to the DSP alleging copyright infringement around lyrics, music videos and podcasts; a lawsuit against Spotify for unpaid royalties filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (#MLC ); and a legislative proposal by the NMPA that would enable publishers to opt out of statutory licensing in the US. As became clear yesterday, the NMPA is just getting started. Israelite announced that the body has now filed an official complaint about Spotify with regulator the Federal Trade Commission. It has also referred the company to 10 state attorneys general, inviting them to investigate Spotify’s “bait and switch practice”. The NMPA has also referred the row to consumer advocacy organisations including the National Consumers League, Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, Consumer Action, National Consumer Law Center and Truth in Advertising. “For anyone who thinks that this is overkill, welcome to OUR version of a bundle,” said Israelite. “We unapologetically will defend the rights of #songwriters and music publishers, and this attack on songwriters will ultimately fail.” The important thing about these three new moves are that they expand the dispute by focusing on the impact of Spotify’s policy on consumers – its subscribers. “Forcing them into a bundled service they did not choose,” as Israelite put it in his speech. “Attempting to trap those customers into a higher price bundle that they did not choose with products they do not want.” #stopbundlingsongwriters

Via #Billboard - The National Music Publishers’ Association’s (#NMPA ) war with Spotify continued at its annual meeting held Wednesday (June 12) at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. In an address to the publishing executives in attendance, NMPA CEO/president David Israelite announced that the organization has filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (#FTC ) and sent letters to the attorneys general for nine states as well as consumer trade groups to try to stop Spotify from reclassifying its premium tiers as “#bundles” — a classification that allows the streamer to pay a lower mechanical royalty rate in the United States. The NMPA alleges that Spotify has violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”), section 5 of the FTC Act and various consumer protection laws. As Billboard previously reported, publishers anticipate a $150 million loss in U.S. mechanicals in the first year of the bundling reclassification compared to what publishers would have been paid had the reclassification never happened. The decreased payments began in March with no prior warning, according to the NMPA and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC). Spotify, however, believes it is playing by the book in making the change given that it has “bundled” audiobooks with other offerings included in the streamer’s premium plans. #stopbundlingsongwriters #spotify

Absolutely epic #NMPA Annual Meeting featuring NMPA Songwriter Icon Lana Del Rey *and her tribute performer the incredible Stephen Sanchez NMPA Non-Performing Songwriter Icon Savan Kotecha *honored by the brilliant Danielle Bradbery Keynote by Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl Iconic Song “Can’t Help Falling in Love” performed by Ingrid Michaelson A special tribute to our outgoing songwriter board member Ross Golan by the phenomenally talented Joshua Henry … and much more! Thank you to our icons, speakers, and performers - it’s an honor to celebrate you! #lanadelrey #warnermusic #ingridmichaelson #stephensanchez #daniellebradbery #canthelpfallinginlove #umpg #elvis #joshuahenry

TOMORROW! See you at the #NMPA annual meeting.

Via #Slate - As in 2023, the updated cost tiers have been imposed in response to persistent profitability concerns, most urgently stemming from the costs of Spotify’s aggressive push into #audiobooks , a venture that has been a heavier lift than the company likely expected. Back in March, #Spotify reclassified all those aforementioned plans as Bundled Subscription Offerings so that already-paying customers would automatically gain access to these audiobooks, alongside their favorite songs and lyrics and videos and podcasts. In response, the Mechanical Licensing Collective—a government-established nonprofit that helps coordinate royalty checks from streamers—lodged a federal lawsuit against Spotify last month, accusing it of undercutting liabilities by lowering artist payouts from Premium fees while expanding the products available to subscribers at little to no additional charge. That comes on top of other litigation and threats to that effect. The National Music Publishers’ Association, a powerful trade group for big songwriter-publishing firms, also objected to Spotify’s new “bundles” and served the company a cease-and-desist over its alleged platforming of unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts. The CEO of Sony Music Publishing, one of the companies repped by #NMPA , sent a letter to the artists under his wing explaining that he was working with the trade group to explore “all options to enforce the improved rates” #Spotify was entitled to pay songwriters pre-bundle. (Translation: More suits may be on the table.) Meanwhile, Spotify is also dealing with a class-action suit from aggrieved subscribers who bought its beloved “Car Thing” audio gadget, all existing models of which will be bricked by the end of the year. Although it didn’t at first commit to offering refunds, the company is now providing compensation to customers who bought a $90 Car Thing directly from Spotify itself, and not from a resale market, through disbursements of small digital checks up to $12. Read more: /technology/2024/06/spotify-price-rise-lawsuits-car-thing-what-is-happening.html #stopbundlingsongwriters

🚨: The National Music Publishers’ Association (#NMPA ) today announced the honorees and keynote for its Annual Meeting at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on June 12. #LanaDelRey will receive this year’s NMPA Songwriter Icon award. The 44-time NMPA Gold & Platinum certified, GRAMMY and Golden Globe-nominated, MTV and Brit award-winning singer-songwriter is the creator of a completely original aesthetic that has been emulated by an entire generation. NMPA President & CEO David Israelite said, “Lana Del Rey defines being iconic. Her influence is felt across all genres and has inspired the biggest artists in the business. Her songwriting is deeply personal, and she continues to innovate – bringing fans thought provoking lyrics and indelible style. Additionally, Savan Kotecha is virtually unmatched in his impact on pop music. He has helped craft the sounds for so many of the biggest hits of the past decade. We are thrilled to honor his continued success. “Robert Kyncl has been a leader in protecting and promoting the rights of songwriters in the challenges and opportunities brought on by AI. His unique perspective, from years of working in the tech and music industries, will be illuminating. Likewise, we are excited to hear an update during such a dynamic time from the leader of the Copyright Office. As a holder of the most patents in Congress, Congressman Issa knows the value of IP. We are thrilled to acknowledge his work from the Music Modernization Act to his leadership on AI. As songwriters face unparalleled threats, we look forward to bringing together and honoring the great minds leading us forward.”

BREAKING: via #Billboard - The National Music Publishers’ Association (#NMPA ) has sent a letter to Judiciary Committee leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, asking for the overhaul of the statutory license in section 115 of the #Copyright Act, which “prevents private negotiations in a free market” for mechanical royalty rates for songwriters and music publishers in the U.S. On May 20, David Israelite, the organization’s president and CEO, teased this announcement in a guest column for Billboard, saying: “soon we will unveil a legislative proposal to permanently fix the power imbalance #songwriters face by being subject to a compulsory license for their songs.” In his new letter, NMPA’s Israelite writes that doing away with the 100-year-old system of government-regulated price setting for songwriter and publisher royalties (specifically, mechanical royalties) and allowing rate negotiations to occur in a free market would prevent songwriters and publishers from being taken advantage of by “Big Tech:” “Those who do operate in a free market, such as record labels, have negotiated protections against bad faith tactics. However, music publishers and songwriters have no such leverage under the [Copyright Royalty Board] to do so.” … In his new letter, NMPA’s Israelite proposes a solution for abolishing the current system, saying: “Congress should allow rightsholders the choice to license through the MLC using the statutorily set royalty rates or to withdraw from the MLC and operate in a free market if they meet certain conditions.” …

TODAY in #Billboard - We will not stand for their misinterpretation of bundles as precisely defined in our settlement. If allowed to abuse the statutory formula in this way, it will pave the way for other services to do the same. That’s why several serious actions are in process. Last week, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (#MLC ) sued #Spotify for improperly reporting its usage – a.k.a. underpaying #songwriters by labeling their services as a bundle. As the MLC states in its complaint, “Spotify informs potential Audiobook Access subscribers that, unlike Premium subscribers, they will not have access to unlimited, ad-free, on-demand music. But in rolling out its Audiobooks Access plan, Spotify neglected to create a different product.” Separately, #NMPA also sent a demand letter to the streaming giant for its unlicensed use of musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts. We also specifically warned Spotify about its rumored “remix” feature which would allow subscribers to “speed up, mash up, and otherwise edit” songs to create derivative works. In addition to these legal challenges, soon we will unveil a legislative proposal to permanently fix the power imbalance songwriters face by being subject to a compulsory license for their songs. Spotify’s cynical, and potentially unlawful, move should make all songwriters and artists question their relationship with the service. The strategy to rebrand music as a “bundle” further devalues their art and amounts to a complete betrayal.

🚨: 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. The fight over bundling between the streaming service and publishers has spilled into a dispute over other issues. … The National Music Publishers’ Association on Wednesday sent a cease-and-desist letter to Spotify over products it claims are infringing on songwriters’ copyrights. The #NMPA alleges that music videos, lyrics and podcasts on the platform are all using copyrighted music without the proper permissions. “Before #Spotify’s ‘bundling’ betrayal, we may have been able to work together to fix this problem, but they have chosen the hard road by coming after songwriters once again,” David Israelite, chief executive officer at the NMPA, said in a statement. Music and audiobook streaming companies, like Spotify, pay musicians and music publishers under a complex system set out in 2018 by the Music Modernization Act of 2018. Under the system, streaming services pay less per stream—in other words, less to creators and publishers—when their services are classified as bundles. Spotify’s Premium service, which was not classified as a bundle before March 1, includes unlimited music downloads and 15 hours of #audiobooks . It added the audiobook offering in November in the U.S. without changing the $10.99 price. The licensing collective is asking the court to order Spotify to stop classifying Premium as a bundled service and to pay it for lost revenue. Israelite praised the Mechanical Licensing Collective for “not letting Spotify get away with its latest trick to underpay creators.”