Swedish musical works collection society STIM has reacted to accusations made by 133 songwriters in an open letter protesting over the proportion of streaming royalties they recieve.
Last week, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published a letter which accused STIM of licensing Spotify ‘on bad terms to get started’, adding that ‘no-one wanted to stand in the way of the ability to [smack] pirate services on the fingers’.
This, said the songwriters’ collective, helped the record labels to negotiate a proportion of streaming payouts for themselves and their artists believed to be in the region of 73%.
Basing their assumptions on a debatable US study that appeared to be more directed at Pandora (and its $0.001 rightsholder payouts) than Spotify, the songwriters accused Stim of collecting just 3% of total royalties from streaming services – somthing the PRO has strongly denied, clarifiying that this number generally stands at 12%.
The letter also called for the death of the so-called ‘NDA culture’ which means collection bodies are prohibited from sharing digital music deal terms with their members.
It added that songwriters wanted to see composition and production credits added to streaming services.
STIM said in a statement: “STIM welcomes a discussion of music’s value and the compensation to those who create the music. These are relevant questions.
“We agree that transparency is an absolute requirement in order to assess whether songwriters get paid enough and that’s why STIM are continuously working to increase transparency in the music industry. For a collective management organization, which STIM is, openness towards our associate is the only way to preserve our legitimacy.
“STIM are also in agreement with the composers when it comes to their request of giving the songwriters credit for their work, by clearly stating their names on the charts. We will continue the discussion with the music services in order to make this possible on their services and the norm for the entire market, which it sadly isn’t today.
“The article said Spotify is only paying STIM members 3% of their revenues… the streaming services are actually paying 12% to STIM.”
“The debate article, might give the impression that Spotify is only paying 3 percent of their revenues to the STIM’s rights holders in Sweden, and that STIM has agreed to such poor conditions. The figures, however, as the article also states, are based on a US study and do not reflect the Swedish market.
“The streaming services that have agreements with STIM are generally paying 12 percent of their overall revenue to STIM. The pricing range is no secret and is clearly stated on STIM’s homepage. The terms, which have been negotiated by STIM, are by our knowledge the same as other rights organizations in Europe.
“The article can also hint that the Music Publishers Organization, an interest organization included inSTIM owner collective of rights holders and music publishers, are responsible for negotiating the terms with the music streaming services. STIM is responsible for getting these terms in place and not the Music Publishers Organization or any other interest organization under STIM.
“In 2014, STIM’s revenues reached approximately 1.7 billion SEK. The revenues from digital services have increased significantly in recent years; from 2013 to 2014, we could see an increase of almost 20 percent.
“The questions raised about the size of the compensation are relevant. At the same time it is clear that the legal digital music services in Sweden has contributed to a positive development in terms of willingness to pay for recorded music.
“STIM’s mission is to continue to connect those who write music with those who make it available to us who listen. It is also our mission to ensure that music creators receive fair payment for their work.”Music Business Worldwide
