Chris Dempsey is the editor-in-chief of Cric.com, a digital content portal and news site where he covers a wide range of the music industry including music, film, TV, and radio.
In 2016, he wrote an article for Forbes Magazine entitled, “Music Publishing Money: The Big Three Can Afford to Share the Cash.”
That article was an excerpt from a larger story titled, “Why Cric Media Is the Best Place to Watch Music.”
In that piece Dempsey described how, in 2016, the three major music publishing companies (Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio) collectively earned $2 billion in digital royalties.
The total amount of money was less than $400 million.
The figures are not public information and Dempsey did not make any mention of the companies’ share of revenue.
The reason for the disparity is that the music business is not a simple matter of who owns the music and who owns rights to it.
Spotify and Pandora, for instance, own the rights to music on the Internet.
The labels (Sony/ATV Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music) control rights to the music in the form of copyright and trademark.
Pandora and Spotify also have the power to license songs, which they do by buying digital rights to songs that other artists have purchased and releasing the music for free.
But the revenue streams are very different.
Spotify and Pandora are primarily revenue generating services.
Pandora streams music directly to users and can charge fees for additional access.
Spotify only gives users access to a limited number of tracks they own.
Pandora allows its users to purchase additional music to add to their listening experience.
Spotify allows its listeners to purchase other music to share on their service.
While Spotify and its streaming competitors generate more revenue per user than any other streaming service, Pandora only has a fraction of Spotify’s revenue streams.
Pandora charges no subscription fees, is a subscription service and charges a flat rate for each stream.
Spotify does not charge for the additional access, but does charge a $2 per month fee for access to all of the Spotify songs it offers.
Spotify charges $9.99 per month for unlimited streaming of its music, while Pandora charges $14.99 for unlimited music.
Cric’s Dempsey also wrote an interview with Billboard that outlined the financial situation of the three companies, the revenue they generate, and how each company makes money.
In the interview Dempsey explained that Spotify and Amazon charge a flat monthly fee, Pandora charges a subscription fee, and Spotify charges a “per stream” fee.
Spotify is not owned by the big publishing companies, Dempsey wrote, but the revenue generated by Spotify is divided among Spotify, Pandora and the publishers.
Pandora, he said, “seems to be a big part of Spotify.”
Dempsey did state, however, that Spotify is “a big deal in terms of revenue and profit margins.”
Spotify and the publishing companies have been in the media spotlight lately due to the allegations that they colluded to suppress the release of artists’ music.
However, Dempsey noted that he does not believe the labels and their music publishing partners are in a position to influence the future of music.
In fact, he pointed out that, “It seems to be the labels who are really making this big money.”
Dempsey added that the labels are “entitled to their position.”
He wrote, “They could have gone to the studios and said, ‘You know what?
Let’s negotiate a deal and have the studios release more music.’
Or they could have taken the money they’re making, put it in a bank account and say, ‘Hey, we want you to pay us more.
But let’s go after all the money you make from Spotify and from Pandora and from Amazon.
Dempsey noted how, for example, Warner Music has a contract with Amazon. “
Dempsey noted, however that “the labels would not have been willing to take this risk.
“Dempsey noted how, for example, Warner Music has a contract with Amazon.
He wrote that Warner Music, which owns the rights for the majority of Amazon’s music catalog, “will have the option of paying Amazon royalties on their catalog if it so chooses, which would give Warner a significant portion of Amazon Music royalties.”
Dempsey also noted that Amazon is not beholden to the labels or their music publishers.
Spotify has also been under fire for its business practices.
Last year, the company was forced to apologize after it was revealed that it had sold music without a music license.
In response to the accusations that Spotify violated the copyright laws by selling music without paying royalties, Spotify CEO Daniel Ekman wrote a blog post that claimed, “Spotify’s strategy is to sell as many music downloads as possible in a day or two, and then to keep paying royalties to the artists.
Spotify also sells thousands of paid music downloads every day without paying any royalty fees. And