When Taylor Swift scrubbed Spotify of her music, claiming artists weren’t getting paid properly, we gave her a little side-eye. (We secretly listen to “Shake It Off” randomly throughout the day). Now we see why.
According to reports, Pharrell Williams only collected $2,700 in royalties from the 43 million plays of his mega hit “Happy.” What’s up with that? Marty Bandier, the CEO of Sony/ATV music publishing told Digital Music News: “This is a totally unacceptable situation and one that cannot be allowed to continue.”
Apps like Pandora and Spotify are great ways to sample new tunes and listen to favorites, but this bubbling concern of whether artists are being compensated properly is getting bigger.
After discovering only $60 is earned per million streams on Pandora, Bandier penned this letter voicing his concerns:
Pharrell Only Made $2,700 For 43 Million Streams Of ‘Happy’ On Pandora was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
