The war between Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and the Artists is back on, they claim they are not enough/well paid. But do we know how much they are paid?
First of all, Spotify claims taking 30% of the subscription of the customers, which leaves 70% of the amount to the artists, that is quite alright.
You would think that because you listen to David Guetta 5 times and Ariana Grande 5 times, they will share the revenue, well it doesn’t work like that. This is called “data centric” meaning you might be listening to unpopular artists or different genre, people like Aya Nakamura or Ariana Grande will take the money and not the unpopular artists, it is all about clicks, publicity and fame.
So the answer to the question (if its unequal or unfair) is yes, since no matter what famous artists will earn more than smaller ones.
The new question is, would it be possible to do something different? And the answer is of course yes, everything is possible. For example, Deezer wants to start paying the artists not using “data centric” but “user centric” which means that the money of the subscription will be divided between the artists the user is listening, fair right?
In conclusion, the “user centric” might be a good idea but according to the CNM (National Center of Music) who released a study on the topic, nothing can be perfect but deserves to be tested. The only fear would be for the young and new artists, and of course that according to the age, the music consumption is also different.
In other words, you won’t stop hearing about this war, just yet.