Here’s how Spotify can fix its songwriter woes (Hint: it’s all about pricing)

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by Mark Mulligan

11 Mar 2019

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music publishers songwriters spotify pricing Streaming streaming pricing

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Songwriter royalties have always been a pain point for streaming, especially in the US where statutory rates determine much of how songwriters get paid.

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Nic Discepoli
Netflix still has an $8.99 / month tier. HD Content is not available on this tier, but SD versions are. What is the mix of Netflix subscribers that subscribe to this lower priced tier? Would you say that the bump in price of Netflix’s Standard $12.99 tier was also warranted by a jump in perceived value (availability of HD and ability to stream on multiple devices at once)? When Netflix launched in 2010, HD devices were less ubiquitous and users owned fewer personal devices, thus the features in the current “standard” tier would be less relevant to the average 2010 consumer.
Mark Mulligan
The post refers to the global launch dates for those services, regardless of which territories they might have been. Additionally 9.99 was the standard music subscription price point, US and globally, and still is now.It traces its US origins all the way back to Rhapsody - long before Spotify
Musicguy
Spotify launched in the US in July 2011. In 2009, it was only available in the UK, FR, ES, FI, NO and SE. It was available in local currency at 9,99 GBP / EUR and at 99 SEK and NOK. All of those were (and still are) much more than $9.99 USD. Would be worth updating your analysis to take that into account.