The whole Spotify vs Warner drama has been hard to miss over the past few weeks, so I thought I have to write about it!
Let’s go back..
Spotify have been set to launch in India for a while now and finally their time came, but like most things, it didn’t come without some industry drama. Arguably one of the biggest music publishing companies, Warner/Chappell have denied Spotify access to their publishing catalogue ahead of their big launch. Without the appropriate licence from Warner/Chappell, Spotify cannot legally host a Warner/Chappell songwriters work (even if released through another label). Resulting in any future Spotify subscribers in India missing out on some of the worlds biggest global artists; Ed Sheeran, Led Zeppelin, Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar and so many more.
“It’s not really about India, it’s about leverage and renegotiation of the global agreement.”
Barry McCarthy, Spotify’s CFO
The publicly known drama can be seen as childish playground behaviour of ‘you pulled my hair now I’ll pull yours’, let me explain. Warner Music Group have been in debates with Spotify over negotiating their global licence, in short, WMG want more money from Spotify and the streaming giant are a little unimpressed. So, when Spotify attempted to gain a publishing licence enabling them to stream all WMG and Warner/Chappell music in their new domain, India, WMG basically replied with a big fat no. See what I mean by childish?
WMG are fully aware that without being fully licenced in India, Spotify’s new (estimated 1.8 billion) customers will be missing out; they’re definitely playing it very clever. However, when Spotify fought back by applying for a statutory licence (traditionally used for TV and Radio), WMG hit back AGAIN with the application for an injunction against their claim. Unluckily for WMG, the Bombay High court denied their appeal for an injunction, but the following statement by WMG suggests a positive outcome:
“We welcome the court’s decision to direct Spotify to deposit monies with the court and to maintain complete records of any use of our music as well as all advertising and subscription revenue earned by Spotify. These are positive steps to protect our songwriters’ interests.”
Warner Spokesperson
Was the whole drama selfish on WMG’s behalf? They have songwriters to think about, if the injunction was accepted and set in place, they would in turn be denying royalties owed to songwriters in the second most populated country in the world. For now, it seems the court have found (or been forced to find) a temporary resolution.
It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, hopefully everything will become clearer after they’re next in court on March 25th; I’ll be sure to give you an update on our Instagram – Music Talks UK!
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