When Bloomberg reported that Spotify would be upping the cost of its premium subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and including 15 hours of audiobooks per month in the U.S., the change sounded like a win for songwriters and publishers. Higher subscription prices typically equate to a bump in U.S. mechanical royalties — but not this time.

By adding audiobooks into Spotify’s premium tier, the streaming service now claims it qualifies to pay a discounted “bundle” rate to songwriters for premium streams, given Spotify now has to pay licensing for both books and music from the same price tag — which will only be a dollar higher than when music was the only premium offering. Additionally, Spotify will reclassify its duo and family subscription plans as bundles as well.

  • scripthookEnglish
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    5 months ago
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    Doesn’t make me feel guilty using Soulseek. Artists get next to nothing but I’m refusing to give any money to Spotify. If there was a better way to buy and own music digitally from popular artists I would

          • Spider89English
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            5 months ago
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            I assume professinol music that’s good. Not amuture sounding music.

        • sgtgigEnglish
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          5 months ago
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          Unironically iTunes

        • unreasonabroEnglish
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          5 months ago
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          high end artists don’t need your money, they’re funded already and corporate productions in the first place. So i guess you’re in the clear! ;)