Even among the notoriously terrible royalties received for streaming music, this particular case seems egregious. “All About That Bass” co-writer Kevin Kadish said that he received $5,679 in streaming royalties for the song, which was streamed 178 million times.
Kadish revealed the startling figures at a meeting by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on copyright. The meeting was held at Belmont University in Tennessee so that the members of Congress could hear testimony from Nashville songwriters. Kadish was the first to speak.
“I’ve never heard a songwriter complain about radio royalties as much as streaming royalties. That was the real issue for us, like one million streams equals $90.”
Kadish added that there’s no way to make a living as a songwriter with payments like that coming from unquestionably huge hits like “All About That Bass.” But part of this also would suggest that the contract Kadish signed was far from a fair one.
“For a song like ‘All About That Bass,’ that I wrote, which had 178 million streams. I mean $5,679? That’s my share. That’s as big a song as a songwriter can have in their career and No. 1 in 78 countries. But you’re making $5,600. How do you feed your family?”
Congressmen in the committee are pushing several bills that would reform music copyright including the Songwriter Equity Act, which would make it easier for songwriters to argue that they’ve been unfairly compensated for digital uses of their songs.
(Via NME)
