Spotify removes comedy – because the creators demand royalties

While musicians are entitled to a basic fee for every play of their compositions, this is usually not the case for content with spoken language, such as podcasts and comedy programs.

The US organization Spoken Giants has set itself the task of changing exactly that. In recent years, speaking contributions on technical platforms have increased, so Board member Paul Goldman at the public launch In 2020, collecting societies are needed to ensure that the use of this content is rewarded as in the music business.

Accordingly, it is also the job of Spoken Giants to negotiate with streaming providers who would ultimately have to pay the license fees. However, it is said to have crashed with the market size Spotify, the platform has removed the content of hundreds of comedians after they could not come to an agreement with Spoken Giants.

Compared to the Wall Street Journal the collecting society reports that negotiations were initially carried out with Spotify, as previously with other services and radio stations. At the end of November, however, the streaming service announced by email that it would take the work of numerous artists represented by Spoken Giants offline as long as there was no agreement.

A hard blow for those affected: “Spotify gives the artists attention and access to a large audience. It is therefore detrimental for every single artist if his work is taken offline, ”said Jim King, head of Spoken Giants.

Comedian Gerrit Elzinga joined Spoken Giants in the wake of the pandemic, now his content has been withdrawn from Spotify. “It’s just a shame because I really like Spotify,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Spotify has said it has “paid substantial sums of money for the content in question” and would like to continue to do so. In addition, the artists’ labels and those responsible for distribution are also interested in the negotiation. In fact, part of the negotiations is likely to be how the required license fees will be financed – through diverted funds from the amounts contractually agreed with the label and those responsible for distribution, or through additional costs for Spotify.

Fee-related disputes also occur time and again with musical content because the streaming platforms often pay less than artists would ask – but here there are at least basic regulations that only need to be changed with regard to the amounts.