Major biz figures slam Spotify for its reaction to royalty rate rise for US songwriters

As we already reported, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) recent ruling - with royalty rates for streaming and other mechanical uses set to rise 44% in the market - was not exactly welcomed by Spotify and Amazon. And both companies filed a notice of appeal.

This way Spotify could - without a doubt - bring Spotify to save money. But, as "Music Business Worldwide" asks: will the damage suffered by the company’s reputation be worth it?

Since Spotify’s objection to the ruling, major figures in the music business have issued damning statements on the matter. They have also approved the behaviour of Spotify’s fiercest competitor, Apple Music – which stood alone in refusing to object to the CRB ruling.

For instance, Irving Azoff tweeted:

Apple understands they’re in the artist business. Clearly, Google, Pandora, Spotify and Amazon don’t.

Justin Tranter - one of the world’s most successful modern pop songwriters, whose work has been recorded by the likes of Ariana Grande, Fall Out Boy, Justin Bieber, 5 Seconds Of Summer and Gwen Stefani - wrote:

[Without] songs these tech companies have nothing to stream/sell. Shameful. For the first time in 110 years songwriters get an increase in royalties based on how much the music business has changed in that time, and this is how tech companies react. Wow.