In the midst of a dispute over how royalties are paid, Spotify has removed from its service the content of hundreds of comedians, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday (Dec. 4).
Comedians Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Hart and John Mulaney — who are among those whose work has been removed from the streaming service — and a global rights administration company called Spoken Giants are trying to get paid a royalty for writing the material that is played on radio and digital streaming services; currently, they are paid only for performing it.
Songwriters are compensated for the use of their work, but Spotify and other streaming services have also argued with them over the size of the royalty rates, according to the report.
Spotify and other streaming services are the subject of a study by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to determine the level of competitiveness in the sector. The study intends to determine whether the CMA needs to step in with additional guidance to boost competition.
Read more: UK CMA Turns up Volume on Music Streaming Space
Another streaming service, Tidal, launched a new membership tier that will send payments to artists in two ways, Music Business Worldwide reported in November.
Read more: Tidal, Now Owned by Square, Launches Direct-to-Artist Payments
With a new fan-centered royalties model included in Tidal’s HiFi Plus membership tier, royalties attributed to that tier’s subscribers will be paid to artists based on the subscribers’ streaming activity.
In addition, with new direct-to-artist payments, up to 10% of each HiFi Plus subscriber’s monthly membership fee will go to the artist whose music they streamed the most during that calendar month, the report said.
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