Study: As streaming revenue rises, payment to creators falls

A new study developed and released by Research and Markets has revealed that monetisation for streaming is bordering on US$100 for every 1000 hours of listening in the US.

Interestingly, despite streaming revenue climbing, payments made to rights holders as a percentage of subscription and ad revenue is decreasing.

The study shows that streaming revenue rose 56% in 2016, subscription revenue jumped 93% and ad billings were up 19.5% to US$1.7 billion, an indication of strong growth in the sector.

However, the story is different for rightsholders. Total amounts paid to creators decreased by 27% on 2015. In that year, licensing organisations received 47.8% of overall streaming revenue, dropping to 34.8% in 2016.

The findings from the study coincides with over 2,000 songwriters signing a petition demanding better royalties for interactive streaming.

The petition specifically calls out Pandora, Google, Apple, Amazon, Spotify. Pandora garnered the highest listenership in the US last year, according to the newly released study, with 47.3%, while Spotify took 11.5%.

Ad-supported streaming platforms accounted for 61% of total listening hours, but only paid out 38.1% of revenue.

The National Music Publisher’s Association (NMPA) wants songwriters to be paid each time their song is played, or each time a user purchases a subscription.

There is also a strong push to share the profits from the sale of technology and subscriptions that include access to music.

A letter from the NMPA to its members reads: “While royalties paid to songwriters have remained small, giant tech companies have used your songs to sell not just music subscriptions, but also other products and services such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, iPhones, Beats headphones and Amazon Prime subscriptions.”

The rates currently being observed in the US were originally formed over a decade ago when digital streaming was still in its infancy.