In an open letter released yesterday, Bragg said that artists ‘railing against Spotify’ were about as helpful to the music industry and fellow musicians as ‘campaigning against the Sony Walkman would have been in the early eighties’.
His comments come after the likes of Thom Yorke and David Byrne have publicly attacked Spotify for the income it provides artists and songwriters.
The singer songwriter, who’s currently on tour in Sweden, is encouraging musicians to adapt to rising demand for streaming services such as Spotify by pushing their record labels for higher royalty rates.
‘The problem with the business model for streaming is that most artists still have contracts from the analog age, when record companies did all the heavy lifting of physical production and distribution, so only paid artists eight to 15 percent royalties on average.
‘Those rates, carried over to the digital age, explain why artists are getting such paltry sums from Spotify. If the rates were really so bad, the rightsholders - the major record companies - would be complaining. The fact that they're continuing to sign up means they must be making good money,’ he said.
‘Here in Sweden - where I'm doing a show tonight in Malmo - artists have identified that the problem lies with the major record labels rather the streaming service and are taking action to get royalty rates that better reflect the costs involved in digital production and distribution. UK artists would be smart to follow suit.’
However, not all labels operate in this manner. UK inde giant Beggars Group is renowned for paying its artists 50 percent of all streaming royalties on a licence rather than on a sales, download or per-stream basis.
Bragg's comments take forward the latest round in the streaming debate, which was kicked off by Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich earlier this year.
Want to find out more about the way streaming services will shape the future music industry? Read CMU news editor Andy Malt’s editorial for the latest issue of M magazine.
His comments come after the likes of Thom Yorke and David Byrne have publicly attacked Spotify for the income it provides artists and songwriters.
The singer songwriter, who’s currently on tour in Sweden, is encouraging musicians to adapt to rising demand for streaming services such as Spotify by pushing their record labels for higher royalty rates.
‘The problem with the business model for streaming is that most artists still have contracts from the analog age, when record companies did all the heavy lifting of physical production and distribution, so only paid artists eight to 15 percent royalties on average.
‘Those rates, carried over to the digital age, explain why artists are getting such paltry sums from Spotify. If the rates were really so bad, the rightsholders - the major record companies - would be complaining. The fact that they're continuing to sign up means they must be making good money,’ he said.
‘Here in Sweden - where I'm doing a show tonight in Malmo - artists have identified that the problem lies with the major record labels rather the streaming service and are taking action to get royalty rates that better reflect the costs involved in digital production and distribution. UK artists would be smart to follow suit.’
However, not all labels operate in this manner. UK inde giant Beggars Group is renowned for paying its artists 50 percent of all streaming royalties on a licence rather than on a sales, download or per-stream basis.
Bragg's comments take forward the latest round in the streaming debate, which was kicked off by Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich earlier this year.
Want to find out more about the way streaming services will shape the future music industry? Read CMU news editor Andy Malt’s editorial for the latest issue of M magazine.
