Spotify pays music industry record amount, Belgian artists ask a fair chance

According to Spotify, streaming services have ensured that people pay for music again in recent years. The system works, it sounds. “Today there are more than 500 million paying listeners at all music streaming services. A world with 1 billion paying listeners is a realistic objective. “

David Kaefer, Vice-President Music Business from Spotify, estimates that in 2014 around 10,000 artists earned at least $ 10,000 a year on Spotify. Today, more than 10,000 artists would win more than 100,000 dollars a year via Spotify.

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Yet there is also criticism. Playright, an artist organization that manages rights for numerous Belgian artists, complains that local artists are struggling with streaming services. “The big playlists are flooded with Anglo -Saxon artists and show the enormous power that the American music industry has on streaming,” it sounds.

Playright chairman Christian Martin asks efforts to put playlists with local artists in the foreground. “They must have a fair chance to be able to generate their streams and therefore also their much -needed income and rights with at least the same weight as the foreign stars.”

Weak market in Belgium

Sabam, that reimburses reimbursements for authors of songs, says that the Belgian streaming market is small and weak. Anyone who only scores a hit in Belgium will make little money. “Only when a song also scores in the Netherlands can you talk about decent income,” says Olivier Maeterlinck, responsible person at Sabam.

Maeterlinck notes that the editor who made the playlists for Belgium at Spotify was put at the door last year. There is now another vacancy for an editor for the Benelux. He will work from the offices of Spotify in Amsterdam.

Maeterlinck does acknowledge that the streaming services have developed a good product. “It is a win for the consumer. For very little money, people get access to all music in the world. “