Spotify has been facing a rash of lawsuits lately over royalty payments from mechanical licenses, but it just settled a major suit with the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) on the behalf of its constituents to the tune of $30 million over unpaid royalties.
Spotify did not identify some songs' publishers and thus some people were not getting paid as a result of plays on those songs. The settlement process begins in April with a three-month oft-in period that allows NMPA members to opt in to receive a portion of the $30 million settlement. According to Billboard, the agreement covers the period from Spotify's inception to June 30, 2017 with an automatic renewal tacked on through June 30, 2019.
"As we have said many times, we have always been committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny," said Spotify Global Head of Communications and Public Policy Jonathan Prince in a statement. "We appreciate the hard work of everyone at the NMPA to secure this agreement and we look forward to further collaboration with them as we build a comprehensive publishing administration system."
The agreement not only seeks to rectify the wrongs of slow or non-payment when songs weren't matched with publishers, which impacted writers, engineers, producers and others, but it also puts in place a plan to create a more airtight system so that songs are always matched to their publishers.
"NMPA's goal has always been to ensure publishers and songwriters receive the money they deserve. I am thrilled that through this agreement both independent and major publishers and songwriters will be able to get what is owed to them," said NMPA CEO David Israelite. "We must continue to push digital services to properly pay for the musical works that fuel their businesses and after much work together, we have found a way for Spotify to quickly get royalties to the right people. I look forward to all NMPA members being paid what they are owed, and I am excited about the creation of a better process moving forward."
