Headlines about Spotify tend to primarily be about a new feature rolling out, Spotify Wrapped if the time of year is right, or about issues with how poorly they pay artists for the streams their work generates. On the latter front: Billboard reports Spotify is hosting a Songwriter Of The Year Grammy party on January 28, but four out of the five songwriters nominated in that category will not be in attendance.
Two of them are specifically not attending in protest of Spotify: Representatives for Amy Allen (who worked on songs like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Harry Styles’ “Adore You”) and Jessie Jo Dillon (Dan + Shay’s “10,000 Hours” and Morgan Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies”) told Billboard the artists are not attending due to Spotify’s change in royalty rates on premium streams that was introduced in April 2024.
In a statement, Dillon told Billboard, “After some thought, I couldn’t in good conscience support this initiative given their approach to bundling royalties. It is very nice to be individually honored, but it is better for me and my entire songwriter community to be paid fairly for our art. There are no songs without songwriters.”
Meanwhile, a rep for Raye says the artist never committed to attending on the first place, but she’s “an outspoken advocate on behalf of songwriters’ rights igniting an industry-wide dialogue on the topic.” A rep for Jessi Alexander said the artist won’t be attending but didn’t give a reason.
Edgar Barrera, the fifth and final nominee in the category, did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.
