Help Independent Musicians Earn More than 0.003 Cents Per Stream
Help Independent Musicians Earn More than 0.003 Cents Per Stream
The Issue
TLDR (Too Long Didn't Read):
Musicians for decades, especially independent musicians, have been disconnected from making a living from creating music. Never before in our history has music been so valuable yet undervalued by the platforms that use it to grow.
We want music fans and musicians to sign this petition to do the following:
- Get Congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act. A bipartisan bill that adds a subscription fee on streaming services between $4 and $10. That fee is directly paid to artists and featured artists and facilitated by a non-profit organization.
- Get Congress to pass the Protect Working Musicians Act. Another bipartisan bill that empowers independent music creator/owners to negotiate the terms of their agreement with the big streaming companies like Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Who is Impacted?
Musicians are paid an average of $0.003 per stream. For those who hate fractions…that’s 3 THOUSANTHS of a Penny. Most musicians are not Drake, Taylor Swift, or Beyonce. Those people are outliers and can afford to negotiate with streaming services for a fair rate of pay. You need 1,380,000 streams to earn $4000/month! Today, only an estimated 11,000+ artists are making over $50k per year on Spotify. This is a status that is unattainable for most musicians.
Mess around with this Royalty Calculator to see
What is at Stake?
Everywhere we go there is a song that connects you to a moment. You can find music resonating throughout your environment on a daily basis. Creatives work hard to deliver songs to your favorite streaming service, to that movie scene you quote with friends, and over the intercom while you're picking up food for your family.
Most streaming services pay the owners of a song by taking the total number of streams you receive that month and dividing it by the the total number of streams on the platform. This is called "Stream Share Royalty Pool" https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/
For example: 1000 (streams of your song) / 1,000,000,000 (streams total) = $0.000001 for a single stream
Why Act Now?
This proportion or ratio can change from month to month creating an unreliable revenue source for music rights owners and the individuals they collaborate with. Not to mention, services like Spotify are now making artists wait until they have 1000 streams in a 12 month period to pay them (more on that here)
Most importantly, major labels give a deceptive perception of how musicians, songwriters, and producers are compensated. We aren't all wealthy, we don't all get to request thousands to make an album, and we don't all have a mansion in Hollywood. Most of us work a job while pursuing music on the side or we work a job until we stop pursing music altogether. What's even worse is most major label artists never reap the benefits of being signed.
In order to push back on this reality, we want musicians and music fans from all over to stand up with musicians on May 1st, 2025
What we're asking for!
- Get Congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act. A bipartisan bill that adds a subscription fee on streaming services between $4 and $10. That fee is directly paid to artists and featured artists and facilitated by a non-profit organization.
- Get Congress to pass the Protect Working Musicians Act. Another bipartisan bill that empowers independent music creator/owners to negotiate the terms of their agreement with the big streaming companies like Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Other things we are asking for:
- A User-Centric payment model. Artists are paid for referring fans to the service AND are compensated from the user’s subscription. Learn more about a User-Centric Model
- Built in payment split systems to compensate those who worked on the song behind the scenes beyond publishing royalties.
- We want streaming services to provide a way for fans to opt-in and share their emails and user data.
About the petitioners
WordPlay T. Jay is a hip hop artist, YouTuber, educator, and producer from Little Rock, AR. His mission is to make music for the underdog and share tips on engaging with the music business as his career develops. He is partnered with artist, union leader and technologist, Steven Everett. Steven is the owner of Numella, a rideshare advertising application. Both entrepreneurs have a vision of pushing the music industry towards a fair rate of pay for all musicians.
Other Groups That Are Pushing Legislation:
194
The Issue
TLDR (Too Long Didn't Read):
Musicians for decades, especially independent musicians, have been disconnected from making a living from creating music. Never before in our history has music been so valuable yet undervalued by the platforms that use it to grow.
We want music fans and musicians to sign this petition to do the following:
- Get Congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act. A bipartisan bill that adds a subscription fee on streaming services between $4 and $10. That fee is directly paid to artists and featured artists and facilitated by a non-profit organization.
- Get Congress to pass the Protect Working Musicians Act. Another bipartisan bill that empowers independent music creator/owners to negotiate the terms of their agreement with the big streaming companies like Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Who is Impacted?
Musicians are paid an average of $0.003 per stream. For those who hate fractions…that’s 3 THOUSANTHS of a Penny. Most musicians are not Drake, Taylor Swift, or Beyonce. Those people are outliers and can afford to negotiate with streaming services for a fair rate of pay. You need 1,380,000 streams to earn $4000/month! Today, only an estimated 11,000+ artists are making over $50k per year on Spotify. This is a status that is unattainable for most musicians.
Mess around with this Royalty Calculator to see
What is at Stake?
Everywhere we go there is a song that connects you to a moment. You can find music resonating throughout your environment on a daily basis. Creatives work hard to deliver songs to your favorite streaming service, to that movie scene you quote with friends, and over the intercom while you're picking up food for your family.
Most streaming services pay the owners of a song by taking the total number of streams you receive that month and dividing it by the the total number of streams on the platform. This is called "Stream Share Royalty Pool" https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/
For example: 1000 (streams of your song) / 1,000,000,000 (streams total) = $0.000001 for a single stream
Why Act Now?
This proportion or ratio can change from month to month creating an unreliable revenue source for music rights owners and the individuals they collaborate with. Not to mention, services like Spotify are now making artists wait until they have 1000 streams in a 12 month period to pay them (more on that here)
Most importantly, major labels give a deceptive perception of how musicians, songwriters, and producers are compensated. We aren't all wealthy, we don't all get to request thousands to make an album, and we don't all have a mansion in Hollywood. Most of us work a job while pursuing music on the side or we work a job until we stop pursing music altogether. What's even worse is most major label artists never reap the benefits of being signed.
In order to push back on this reality, we want musicians and music fans from all over to stand up with musicians on May 1st, 2025
What we're asking for!
- Get Congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act. A bipartisan bill that adds a subscription fee on streaming services between $4 and $10. That fee is directly paid to artists and featured artists and facilitated by a non-profit organization.
- Get Congress to pass the Protect Working Musicians Act. Another bipartisan bill that empowers independent music creator/owners to negotiate the terms of their agreement with the big streaming companies like Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Other things we are asking for:
- A User-Centric payment model. Artists are paid for referring fans to the service AND are compensated from the user’s subscription. Learn more about a User-Centric Model
- Built in payment split systems to compensate those who worked on the song behind the scenes beyond publishing royalties.
- We want streaming services to provide a way for fans to opt-in and share their emails and user data.
About the petitioners
WordPlay T. Jay is a hip hop artist, YouTuber, educator, and producer from Little Rock, AR. His mission is to make music for the underdog and share tips on engaging with the music business as his career develops. He is partnered with artist, union leader and technologist, Steven Everett. Steven is the owner of Numella, a rideshare advertising application. Both entrepreneurs have a vision of pushing the music industry towards a fair rate of pay for all musicians.
Other Groups That Are Pushing Legislation:
194
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Petition created on May 19, 2024