ECSA accuses Spotify of 'disrespecting' the community of creators

By Emmanuel Legrand

The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) has accused Spotify of showing a "profound disrespect to the community of creators who struggle to make a living" by launching a new scheme that would “amplifying artist input in personalised recommendations” in exchange for lower royalty rates.

  In an open letter to Spotify, ECSA noted that the music streaming service had a per-stream rate that is "already one of the worst amongst music streaming platforms and has further decreased recently," and that the new scheme equal to “payola” and will result in a "pay-for-play model to the benefit of a few players with detrimental consequences for the vast majority creators, consumer choice and cultural diversity alike."

Call for proportionate remuneration

  For ECSA, creators who have already "subsidised its lack of a proper business model for years," should not be financing "yet another broken idea and deserve more respect from this company, whose current model prevents an overwhelming majority of them to make a living." ECSA called for "appropriate and proportionate remuneration" for the use of creators' works.

  ECSA called upon policy makers in Europe "to engage in critical assessment on the functioning of music streaming services including on the tools (such as playlists) they provide" and encourages them to "review and analyse the distribution of streaming revenues to various categories of rights-holders so that music creators can be properly paid for the use of their works and continue to be at the source of Europe’s cultural diversity."