{"id":1094,"date":"2025-02-04T14:53:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T15:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2025-03-15T12:34:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:34:31","slug":"spotify-wins-lawsuit-over-bundling-strategy-that-decreased-payments-to-songwriters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/spotify-wins-lawsuit-over-bundling-strategy-that-decreased-payments-to-songwriters\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotify Wins Lawsuit Over &#8220;Bundling&#8221; Strategy That Decreased Payments to Songwriters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spotify has scored a legal victory that could have lasting consequences for how songwriters get paid in the streaming era.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Spotify successfully fended off a lawsuit from the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which alleged that the company unlawfully slashed songwriter royalties by reclassifying its Premium subscriptions as &#8220;bundles&#8221; to include audiobooks. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres reportedly ruled in favor of the streaming giant after determining its proprietors acted within the law when they adjusted the platform&#8217;s payout structure.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute began in early-2024, when Spotify began including 15 hours of audiobook access in its Premium plans. By labeling these subscriptions as &#8220;bundles,&#8221; Spotify qualified for a lower mechanical royalty rate under Phonorecords IV, a 2022 settlement between music publishers and streaming services, per\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/spotify-wins-audiobook-bundling-lawsuit-as-court-dismisses-legal-action-brought-by-the-mlc\/\">Music Business Worldwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The MLC, a nonprofit designated to administer digital mechanical royalties, took legal action in May, arguing that Spotify had &#8220;unilaterally and unlawfully&#8221; reduced payments to songwriters by as much as 50%.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Torres rejected the MLC&#8217;s claims, stating that Spotify\u2019s interpretation of the law was the only &#8220;plausible&#8221; one. The\u00a0decision could set a precedent for other streaming services looking to restructure their content offerings accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Under the facts as alleged, audiobook streaming is a product or service that is distinct from music streaming and has more than token value,&#8221; Torres said. &#8220;Premium is, therefore, properly categorized as a bundle, and the allegations of the complaint do not plausibly suggest otherwise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Spotify welcomed the ruling, characterizing it a validation of its business model. The MLC, meanwhile, expressed deep concerns and indicated that an appeal may be on the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spotify has scored a legal victory that could have lasting consequences for how songwriters get paid in the streaming era.\u00a0 Spotify successfully fended off a lawsuit from the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which alleged that the company unlawfully slashed songwriter royalties by reclassifying its Premium subscriptions as &#8220;bundles&#8221; to include audiobooks. U.S. District Judge Analisa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nydoctorprofile.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}