As if Spotify‘s bar couldn’t go any lower, the streaming giant are now offering labels and artists the chance to promote their music in users’ recommendations via radio and autoplay.
The catch? Artists and labels won’t have to pay, but they will have to agree to “a promotional recording royalty rate”.
“In this new experiment, artists and labels can identify music that’s a priority for them, and our system will add that signal to the algorithm that determines personalised listening sessions,” a statement from Spotify reads.
‘This allows our algorithms to account for what’s important to the artist.”
“Labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalised listening sessions where we provided this service,” the statement continues.
It’s important to note that accepting the new terms “won’t guarantee placement to labels or artists”. Cool cool cool cool cool.
As reported by FADER, The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers launched a campaign just last week calling for Spotify to pay artists more per stream, and for transparency and fairness in the company’s dealings with record labels. The campaign currently has over 15,000 signatures.
