Thanks for posting this. I shared it in about ten songwriting groups where I'm a member on Facebook and re-posted it on my Facebook timeline.

Well, it's an interesting talk and he's described problems have been known a long time. I can't discuss much of what I did at ASCAP for all those years but the PROs absolutely know how bad this is and why.

His proposed solutions, likewise, are spot on but Björn and Benny don't even have the clout to get Spotify to change their wicked ways… It would surprise me if ABBA hadn't brought more revenue into Sweden than Spotify. If they can't get the major offender from their own country to behave, it's more dire than he lays out. And it is.

What I was hoping for are suggestions about what can be done by the public to put pressure on the streaming industry to actually make those changes. The real problem is that the public doesn't care—they want it free.

The European Union is ahead of the US in this regard but both are way behind considering the work that must be done. Continued pressure must be brought down from the EU and Congress. They let this system be born broken and the industry has no desire to fix itself. Repealing the DMCA and replacing it with a law that had teeth would be a start.

The great promise of the internet is that you can get anything you want whenever you want it.

The big lie is that it should be free.

Basically - nothing should come for free, and EU + USA could lead by example, by securing a minimum payout per play count. That would in some respect deal a bit with Spotify Free and Youtube, whom IMHO are the worst, when it comes to pay out.

According to a comment at the bottom of the following article from two years ago, "Spotify pays the labels (or whoever owns the master) VERY WELL. The labels in turn however, do not fairly account to their artists. And of course, songwriters get screwed." So, it seems that the best and easiest way for songwriters to rectify this situation in the short term is to have their own label company that owns the masters and publishes their songs because, as another comment further down states, "It is also much easier and cheaper for songwriters to be master and label owners today. Indie distributors make this possible for all."

https://www.shellypeiken.com/blog/songwriters-vs-spotify

Then there's the following article that further complicates this situation:

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-vs-songwriters-publishers-remain-confident-that-streaming-platforms-will-be-forced-to-increase-royalties-in-the-us/

This quote from the following article confirms the statement I quoted in my previous comment:

"The music publishers’ plan, quite deliberately, is to go in impossibly high. As Israelite tells it, in the world of synchronization, licensing fees in the US are broadly split 50/50 between publishers (and songwriters) and record labels (and artists). Yet when it comes to streaming, a very different equation shakes out: publishers/songwriters are paid that 10%-15% headline share of Spotify’s revenues (divided up by their market share), while the major record labels are understood to be paid a 52% share (divided up by their market share)."

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/songwriters-spotify-amazon-crb-royalties-war-1015116/

i really enjoyed the thoughtfull Bjorn abba vid.
doesnt it show a sad state of affairs in the music industry ?

lets look at it from the viewpoint of a talented young person with a lot of creative song ideas. and starting on the songwriting journey.
on the one hand this young person is often told...
"ya gotta buy all the right big boy tools to get a hit...
big name computer/daw/plug ins/mics/interfaces/speakers etc etc and oh btw if ya want that vintage sound better get an old vintage console/mics/24 trak 2 inch MTR and treated room etc etc"...lbut then at the end...
"oh btw youll make bout 20 buks a month revenue
from your songs".
less than working couple of hours minimum wage at retail.
kinda lopsided dont ya think ? completely out of whack imho.
ie investment vs income return.

the other issue is how does that new young keen songwriter get exposure ? yes they can use an internet site.
but do the millions of the music listening public really spend lots of their time trolling through the tens of thousands of new songs uploaded to the net each month ? some maybe..but most peoiple dont bother i suspect due to laziness.

the above points are why ages ago i decided on a big rig big big downsize to a very small project (refurb computer based) studio.
(i saw this whole problem possibly coming when i was working in tech.)
also i just wanted a very quiete life with my wife.

i sincerely worry where future generations of songwriters are going to get an income from.
i was looking at a high end mac tother day.
lovely machine starting at 6k if i remember. would like one. but at 20 bukkies a month royalties would take something like 25 years to pay off.
how can i justify the purchase ?

remember when henry ford intelligently realised that workers needed a decent income in order to buy cars ? does one see parallels today ?
in conclusion i believe lack of royalties will impact gear purchases.
truly its a sad state of affairs.

best
OM

Perhaps the boom that's allegedly coming to the music industry will help make it possible to "rebalance the song economy."

https://journalofmusic.com/focus/2021-music-boom-coming

It's not a good idea for anyone to quit his/her day job over the Pollyanna nonsense in that article.