SPOTIFY EXEC SAYS MUSIC STREAMING DOESN’T PAY MUSICIANS ENOUGH

Spotify’s global head of creator services Troy Carter, who previously managed musicians like Lady Gaga, John Legend and Meghan Trainor, has admitted royalties from streaming services are too low.

In a Q&A session as part of the Music Business 2017 conference held in Nashville, Carter was asked whether he would think streaming royalties were fair if he was currently a manager.

“I would say no, but I would also say the value chain’s broken,” Carter responded, as quoted by Variety.

Instead of blaming Spotify or other music streaming services, Carter said the music industry would need to “reconfigure the entire value chain”.

“Is it also fair that if Max Martin wrote the hit on a record, that the person who wrote the worst song on the record is under the same rate as Max, essentially? It was almost like a welfare system before. The hit songs really really matter and you’ve got every single producer and writer on the album trying to make that hit.”

Carter said Spotify had spent its first ten years focusing on consumers, but over the next ten years it will focus on creators.

“We’re trying to wrap this engine around artists and help develop the next generation of superstars. So it’s not about songs, it’s going to be about how do we help you build out bodies of work, how do we help you plan out your tour, how do we help you know who the fans are. So we’re investing in careers at this point,” Carter said.