When you stream music from the likes of Spotify, you expect that abysmal $0.0038 royalty rate to go to your favourite artist, right? Well, you’d be wrong. In a lot of cases, that money is going into the coffers of a record label.
And the same often still applies to artists that signed their records decades ago. A recent parliamentary committee inquiry into streaming in the UK found that this disproportionately affects black artists – something that seems to be rattling the majors.
Sony Music announced late on Friday that they would no longer be pursuing unrecouped balances from records signed before the year 2000. Instead, money generated from those songs will be passed onto artists instead. Whilst we don’t know how many artists will benefit from this, it’s good news.
So, when will house labels start doing the same thing? Isn’t it time that the likes of Adonis started receiving money from Trax Records? Who can argue that Marshall Jefferson shouldn’t be paid for each play of “Move Your Body”? And when will Paris Brightledge start getting money for “It’s Alright” on DJ International?
If it starts putting right the horrendous spectacle of pioneers in house dying whilst broke, it needs to happen. So, what are the likes of Screamin Rachael waiting for?
