In mid October, the U.K.’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee began investigating streaming platforms’ impact on the music industry. Now, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) has launched a campaign called “Justice At Spotify” to push for the company to increase the royalties it pays to artists and adopt more transparent policies.
“Spotify is the most dominant platform on the music streaming market,” reads verbiage on the Justice At Spotify website. “The company behind the streaming platform continues to accrue value, yet music workers everywhere see little more than pennies in compensation for the work they make.”
“With the entire live music ecosystem in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic, music workers are more reliant on streaming income than ever,” it goes on. “We are calling on Spotify to deliver increased royalty payments, transparency in their practices, and to stop fighting artists.”
Spotify’s market valuation reached $50 billion in June, and UMAW argue that artist payouts have not grown proportionately. A feature of the campaign is the slogan “Penny Per Stream Please,” which echoes the demand of a recent Change.org petition.
At the time of writing, over 10,000 musicians have cast their support for “Justice At Spotify.” The full list is available on the UMAW website.
