“Our model uniquely creates more opportunities for indie artists to build sustainable careers in music”: Spotify releases its annual royalties reportSpotify has released its Loud & Clear annual royalty report for 2024, in which it aims to provide “clarity about the economics of music streaming”.
As part of its key findings, Spotify shares that it was again the highest paying retailer globally in 2024, paying the music industry over $10 billion in total. It says this is the largest payout in music industry history, and is over 10x the contribution of the largest record store at the height of the CD era.

READ MORE: It looks like Spotify lossless audio is coming later this year

The report lands among continued criticism of Spotify’s royalty model, with a vast number of artists feeling its payouts are too low. CEO Daniel Ek previously compared its royalty payouts to professional sports, saying: “Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”. At the end of Q4 last year, Spotify celebrated its first full year of profitability.
The data: This is how much money is being paid out
Despite the low royalty backlash, the new report states that from 2014 to 2024, Spotify’s yearly payouts to the music industry increased 10x from $1 billion to over $10 billion. “Spotify has been on a mission to get the world to value music again – and the system we’ve built together is working,” it claims.
In 2024, nearly 1,500 artists generated over $1M in royalties from Spotify alone. It argues that these artists aren’t just household names either, as 80 percent of them didn’t have a song reach the Spotify Global Daily Top 50 chart in 2024. The majority were also not legacy artists either, having not launched their careers until 2010 or later.
For the first time ever, an artist who received one in every million streams on Spotify generated over $10,000 on average last year. As for independent artists and labels, these collectively generated more than $5 billion from Spotify.
“Spotify globally represents about one-third of overall recorded streaming revenue (IFPI), but represents over 50 percent of Indies’ streaming revenue (MIDiA). That over-index of Spotify in Indies’ revenue shows that our model uniquely creates more opportunities for more artists to build sustainable careers in music,” it states.
Why Spotify feels “the fraction who find success appears smaller over time”
The Loud & Clear report also tries to tackle criticism of Spotify’s royalties by referring to what it calls the “paradox” of the modern music industry. The number of uploaders to Spotify is now nearly 12 million, and “looking back to the peak of the CD era, only a few thousand artists had their music on the shelves of record stores,” it explains.
“The paradox? Streaming has allowed millions to easily share their music globally – that’s an amazing thing. But the sheer volume of uploaders means the fraction who find success appears smaller over time. The fact remains: Thanks to streaming, more artists than ever before are generating royalties at every career stage. More than at any time in music history. And we think that’s what really matters.”
To further dive into its royalty model, Spotify has also released a new video (seemingly voiced by its AI DJ). In the breakdown, Spotify shares that it does not pay artists directly, but pays rights holders instead. In general, it pays them roughly two thirds of every dollar it makes from music. Watch below for more:

You can check out the full Loud & Clear report from Spotify now.
The post “Our model uniquely creates more opportunities for indie artists to build sustainable careers in music”: Spotify releases its annual royalties report appeared first on MusicTech.

Steinberg update Cubase 14 Cubase 14.0.20 introduces some changes to the Pattern and Score Editors, additional Audio Export options and a new Audio Segment Detection feature capable of highlighting individual elements such as words, drum hits in audio regions. 

Gibson Certified Vintage Launches Next Round of Rare, Highly-Collectible GuitarsGibson - the iconic American-made and leading instrument brand—has a legacy of making world-class instruments since 1894 when Orville Gibson was crafting archtop mandolins. As a natural extension of Gibson’s passion for its unique instruments and the stories they tell, the history-making Gibson Certified Vintage program offers collectible vintage guitars authenticated and certified directly by Gibson, with a new limited lifetime warranty and a certificate of vintage authenticity. All Gibson Certified Vintage guitars are sold via the Gibson Garage in Nashville, TN, call (615) 933-6000; select models will be available for purchase via https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Certified-Vintage.Today, the Gibson Certified Vintage program premieres the next collection of guitars: a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Standard, 1957 Gibson ES-225TD, 1958 Gibson Les Paul TV Junior, 1964 Gibson SG Special, and a 1966 Epiphone Century E422T. “P-90s have been the sound of Gibson electric guitars for the better part of a century, and this release is a small celebration of that,” says Mitch Conrad, Gibon Certified Vintage Manager. “I'm particularly fond of the 1957 Gibson ES-225TD; it's this great combination of the specs of an ES-295 in the thinline package of an ES-330. Don't be fooled by how clean these guitars are—they're a joy to play, and they sound fantastic.”A world first, the Gibson Certified Vintage collection offers collectors an incredible opportunity to own extraordinary instruments, sourced and authenticated by Gibson. Gibson Certified Vintage guitars feature one-of-a-kind Golden Era blue-chip guitars, unique, one-of-a-kind prototypes, celebrity-owned guitars, as well as 70s and 80s models directly from the Gibson Vault. In an industry first, all Gibson Certified Vintage guitars are sold with a brand new limited lifetime warranty. All guitars arrive with a detailed letter of appraisal confirming the provenance and history of the instrument, a certificate of authenticity signed by Gibson’s Certified Vintage Manager, Mitch Conrad, and an array of unique extras.Explore the next guitars to debut in the Gibson Certified Vintage collection below and check back for refreshed vintage offerings as each guitar is sold; for all details, visit https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Certified-Vintage.The post Gibson Certified Vintage Launches Next Round of Rare, Highly-Collectible Guitars first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

US CPI comes in lower than expected — Are rate cuts coming?The latest US core Consumer Price Index (CPI) print, a measure of inflation, came in lower than expected at 3.1%, beating expectations of 3.2%, with a corresponding 0.1% drop in headline inflation figures.According to Matt Mena, crypto research strategist at 21Shares, the cooling inflation data adds to the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year, injecting much-needed liquidity into the markets and sending risk-on asset prices higher. Mena added:“Rate cut expectations have surged in response — markets now price a 31.4% chance of a cut in May, up over 3x from last month, while expectations for three cuts by year-end have jumped over 5x to 32.5%, and four cuts have skyrocketed from just 1% to 21%.”Despite the better-than-expected inflation numbers, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) declined from over $84,000 at the daily open to now sit around $83,000 as traders grapple with US President Donald Trump’s trade war and macroeconomic uncertainty.A majority of market participants believe the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by June 2025. Source: CME GroupRelated: Bitcoin’s ‘Trump trade’ is over — Traders shift hope to Fed rate cuts, expanding global liquidityIs President Trump crashing markets to force rate cuts?Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on several occasions that the central bank is not rushing to cut interest rates — a view echoed by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller.During a Feb. 17 speech at the University of New South Wales in Syndey, Australia, Waller said the bank should pause interest rate cuts until inflation comes down.These comments were met with concern from market analysts, who say that a lack of rate cuts might trigger a bear market and send asset prices plummeting.On March 10, market analyst and investor Anthony Pompliano speculated that President Trump was intentionally crashing financial markets to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.The US government has approximately $9.2 trillion in debt that will mature in 2025 unless refinanced. Source: The Kobeissi LetterAccording to The Kobeissi Letter, the US government needs to refinance roughly $9.2 trillion in debt before it reaches maturity in 2025.Failure to refinance this debt at lower interest rates will drive up the national debt, which is currently over $36 trillion, and cause the interest payments on the debt to balloon.Due to these reasons, President Trump has made interest rate cuts a top priority for his administration — even at the short-term expense of asset markets and business.Magazine Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle

Remote music collaboration: Approaches and best practices
Expert musicians Milk and Blika join us on a discussion of proven approaches and best practices for remote collaboration.

Spotify stock up on strong Loud & Clear royalty report[NYSE: SPOT] Spotify stock beat the market Wednesday rising sharply after the release of it annual Loud & Clear royalty payment transparency report.
The post Spotify stock up on strong Loud & Clear royalty report appeared first on Hypebot.

Impact Soundworks Tape SculptorTape Sculptor is a next-generation tape plugin that can go far beyond typical tape emulation to enhance your productions in all-new directions. Created in partnership with brilliant engineer... Read More

Anthropic CEO says spies are after $100M AI secrets in a ‘few lines of code’Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is worried about spies getting their hands on costly "algorithmic secrets" from the U.S.' top AI companies.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

FLOSS Weekly Episode 824: Gratuitous Navel GazingThis week, Jonathan Bennett chats with Doc Searls about SCaLE and Personal AI! What’s the vision of an AI that consumers run themselves, what form factor might that take, and how do we get there?

https://www.kwaai.ai/
https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/02/23/three-questions-about-apple-encryption-and-the-u-k/

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:

Spotify

RSS

Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

France’s recorded music revenues reached $1.1bn in 2024, up 7% YoYThe growing popularity of music streaming and a boost from the Paris Olympics propelled France to a large increase in music exports
Source

Spotify Loud & Clear: $10B, Global Fandom & A Year of ChangeSpotify's new Loud & Clear transparency report shows payments to the music industry of $10 billion in 2024, half of which went to independents. It's the first L&C since Liz Pelly's expose of streaming and the inner workings of Spotify as well as significant changes in who the streamer pays and how payments are calculated.
The post Spotify Loud & Clear: $10B, Global Fandom & A Year of Change appeared first on Hypebot.

Native Instruments release Session Bassist: Jam Bass Packed with over 280 playable patterns and phrases and paired with a powerful selection of effects from NI’s Guitar Rig software, Jam Bass offers a quick and simple way to write bass parts for just about any genre. 

“If someone wants to buy what someone owns, that includes the right to enforce that ownership”: Judge rejects Miley Cyrus’s motion to dismiss Bruno Mars song lawsuit – here’s whyA judge has opted to reject Miley Cyrus’s motion to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit filed over her Grammy-winning hit, Flowers.
The suit in question has been brought by Tempo Music Investments, which secured a quarter of the copyright of Bruno Mars When I Was Your Man from Phil Lawrence, one of its four writers (the others being Bruno Mars, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt).

READ MORE: The xx confirm they are back “in the studio” – will we hear new music in 2025?

In the lawsuit – filed last September – TMI alleges that Flowers copied several melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements from When I Was Your Man. In November, Miley Cyrus and her co-authors filed a motion to dismiss, saying Tempo lacked grounds to sue.
Cyrus’s team said TMI did not have the same standing to sue that Lawrence – from whom it bought its share in the song – had, as they say a co-author can sell their profit interest in a copyrighted work, but this doesn’t transfer their individual right to sue for infringement without consent from the song’s co-owners. As TMI opted to sue without backing from Mars, Levine and Wyatt, Cyrus says its suit has no standing.
In 2024, Cyrus and her attorney, Peter Anderson, suggested that Tempo Music Investment’s claim held a flaw: “Plaintiff unambiguously [says] that it obtained its claimed rights in the When I Was Your Man copyright from only one of that musical composition’s four authors,” they said. Their justification for this is that partial interest only gives “non-exclusive rights” and therefore, at least in the US, they do not have the right to sue.
Anderson went on to note: “Plaintiff brings this copyright infringement action alone, without… [the] co-authors or other owners. Without the consent of the other owners, a grant of rights from just one co-owner does not confer standing.”
TMI was quick to disagree, claiming: “They’re seeking to make bogus technical arguments because they don’t have an actual substantive defence to the case. The law is clear that we have the right to enforce our interest.”
The assigned judge, Dean D. Pregerson, appears to understand TMI’s point. “If someone wants to buy what someone owns, buy the entire thing, that includes the right to enforce that ownership against the rest of the world. If you don’t allow that, then you diminish the value of what you’re selling to the point where it may become worthless,” he said [via MusicRadar].
Mars hasn’t yet commented on the legal proceedings, not have any of When I Was Your Man’s co-writers, Phil Lawrence, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt.
Now that the judge has rejected Miley Cyrus’s motion to dismiss, she and her team will have to face Tempo Music Investments’ copyright claim.
Remind yourself what both songs sound like below:

The post “If someone wants to buy what someone owns, that includes the right to enforce that ownership”: Judge rejects Miley Cyrus’s motion to dismiss Bruno Mars song lawsuit – here’s why appeared first on MusicTech.

The xx confirm they are back “in the studio” – will we hear new music in 2025?The xx have confirmed they are “in the studio” – but will we hear new music this year?
In a new post on the band’s Instagram page, band members Jamie xx, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim are seen sat in a studio, appearing to be listening intently to some newly recorded music. The image was posted on 8 March with the caption, “Last week, in the studio.”

READ MORE: “I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In Waves

The xx’s last full-length album was 2017’s I See You, but the members have collaborated since then on Jamie xx’s single Waited All Night, which featured on his second album, In Waves. At the time Jamie said, “It’s wonderful to have the gang back together.”
In December 2024, Romy spoke to NME to confirm that The xx were back in the studio. “I think Oliver and Jamie and I have all tried new things and learned a lot from different projects… I think it’s quite wide open and it’s exciting to be starting again in a way. But we’ve started making some music and I’m really excited about it,” she said.
Elaborating on the direction the sound could go in, she added, “It’s still pretty early [but] I still think you’ll be able to tell it’s us, but I think we’re excited to move it on and keep it feeling fresh.”
In the past few years, Romy has collaborated on and off with Fred again.., and, while she says The xx definitely needed a break, the experience she gained in working with Fred was invaluable.
“[I want] to offer Oliver and Jamie everything I have harvested,” she explained, “The three of us knew there was something new needed to explore. We all understood that we had to give ourselves some time to have space and learn new things.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The xx (@thexx)

No further details surrounding The xx’s new project are available at this time, but we’ll bring you them as we know more.
The post The xx confirm they are back “in the studio” – will we hear new music in 2025? appeared first on MusicTech.

Ableton Live 12.2 public beta announced Live 12.2 delivers updated devices for all editions, introduces an array of new features for Ableton's Push hardware, and adds two new devices to the Move and the Note iOS App.