Songwriter and Publisher Coalition Pushes for Flat Streaming Royalty Rate in New CRB Filing

A coalition of creator and publishing advocates—led by Rick Carnes (President of the Songwriters Guild of America), Ashley Irwin (President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and Co-Chair of Music Creators North America), and Eddie Schwartz (President of Music Creators North America)—along with Eight Mile Music Companies, Word Collections, the Music Artists Coalition, and independent songwriter George Johnson, has submitted a landmark direct statement to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). The filing, tied to the Phonorecords V proceeding to establish statutory mechanical rates for 2028–2032, calls for a fundamental overhaul in how digital services compensate music creators.

For members of the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), this joint effort underlines a critical unified push across the music creator community to secure fair, transparent, and sustainable pay in the streaming era.

At the heart of the submission is a proposal to replace the industry’s existing, multi-step royalty formula with a direct, flat pay-per-stream model. Under the coalition’s plan, digital streaming platforms (DSPs) would be required to pay a fixed $0.0030 per play for interactive streams and limited downloads starting in 2028. This rate would apply uniformly across all service tiers—including free, ad-supported tiers—and would adjust annually for inflation through 2032. To guard against underreporting or miscounting, the proposal also incorporates minimum monthly usage fee thresholds per active subscriber and end user.

The coalition argues that the revenue-percentage formula currently in place is overly complex, opaque, and easily exploited. A key example cited in the filing is Spotify’s decision to reclassify its Premium tier as a “bundle” following the addition of audiobooks in early 2024. According to Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) rate sheets, that single administrative shift dropped the effective per-play rate for Spotify Premium subscribers from roughly $0.00084 to $0.00048 per stream in a single month, resulting in millions of dollars in lost royalties for music creators.

To prevent structural rate drops during the proposed policy transition, the filing introduces a “2027 floor” safeguard. Under this rule, no digital platform could pay an effective per-play rate lower than what it paid during calendar year 2027.

While major publishers have increasingly negotiated separate direct licensing deals outside the statutory structure to bypass bundling losses, independent creators, media composers, and songwriters remain bound to compulsory licensing rates set by the CRB.

By advocating alongside allied organizations like SGA and MCNA, the SCL continues to push for predictable, inflation-indexed rates that safeguard the economic future of professional music creators.