Musicians around the world are signing up to fight back against injustice. This time, in the form of Spotify royalty payments.

After nine full months of live music being put on an indefinite hold as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, musicians have been forced to turn to digital and physical markets to keep their careers afloat.

But in a world where streaming is king, how are artists expected to stay employed and make money when their merchandise, tickets and live event sales are stripped away. How are they supposed to survive on less than half of a cent per stream?

The short answer is that they can’t. Thousands of musicians around the world have contemplated hanging up the towel this year, while countless others have made announcements of the end of their artistic pursuits. And now, with the end of the pandemic seemingly just as far out of reach as it was back in March, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers are coming together to make a change and demand higher royalty payments for Spotify artists.

“With the entire live music ecosystem in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic, music workers are more reliant on streaming income than ever. We are calling on Spotify to deliver increased royalty payments, transparency in their practices, and to stop fighting artists.”

Union of musicians and allied workers

On their website titled Justice At Spotify, which details several concerns with Spotify, the union shared their six demands that they hope to accomplish byway of a petition that fans and artists can sign onto. The demands include:

  1. Pay artists at least one cent per stream
  2. Adopt a user-centric payment model
  3. Make all closed-door contracts public
  4. Reveal existing payola, then end it all together
  5. Credit all labor in recordings
  6. End legal battles intended to further impoverish artists

Through these requests, the UMAW hope to help make the process of being a musician and music fan easier, as well as to increase awareness around royalty costs and the industry in general.

And for fans wondering how much money their favorite artists have earned, UMAW created a spoof on Spotify’s Wrapped campaign called Spotify Unwrapped that shows listeners how many hours of music they’ve listened to and what that translates to in royalties- as well as information on how much money Spotify takes for itself.

You can read more about the Justice At Spotify movement and sign onto the petition to increase royalty payments for artists here, and be sure to connect with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers now, via the links below.

Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / Justice at Spotify Page