(New York) Spotify has been taken to American federal justice by the organization responsible for collecting music rights from streaming platforms, which accuses it of having unilaterally reduced the royalties paid to artists.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) was created in 2021 and designated by the United States Intellectual Property Agency as an intermediary to collect, then redistribute, revenues from audio streaming.
According to the MLC, Spotify modified the rules for recognizing revenues from its paid plan, which halved them, according to the summons document consulted by AFP.
This decision was taken without consultation and without prior notification, again according to the MLC, while Spotify has not changed its pricing, argues the organization which took the matter to Manhattan federal court on Thursday.
“Spotify’s failure to fulfill its obligations has enormous consequences for authors and music publishers,” says the body, which cites specialized publications estimating the potential shortfall at several hundred million dollars.
According to the specialist site Billboard, the change is linked to the reclassification of audiobooks in the Spotify offer.
The platform offers, free of charge, 15 hours of audiobook content to its paying subscribers, but considers that these users therefore benefit from a bouquet of several services.
According to Billboard, bundles help reduce the percentage of revenue donated because the total content is broader.
“This legal action is related to the Phono IV agreement, which was concluded and welcomed by publishers and streaming services several years ago,” responded a Spotify spokesperson.
This agreement, signed in 2022, notably included a new formula for processing combined offers (bundles) or bouquets.
The group is counting on “a rapid resolution of this matter,” said the spokesperson.
Spotify claims to be virtuous in terms of sharing revenue from music streaming.
It said it paid out more than nine billion dollars to artists and publishers last year, nearly half of which went to independent artists.
The spokeswoman added that, based on activity in the first few months of the year, Spotify could transfer even more this year.
The platform says it attributes nearly 70% of the revenue generated by streaming to artists and publishers.