Bjorn Ulvaeus Calls For Reforms Of Pricing For Songwriters

Renowned artist Bjorn Ulvaeus behind disco pop group ABBA with megahits like “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” co-wrote a report entitled “Rebalancing The Song Economy,” which urges revamping pricing structures to ensure fairness for writers behind the music.

Ulvaeus, 75, became president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) — a Paris-headquartered rights network representing some four million creators and publishers across the arts — last year.

Pre-pandemic, performing artists could count on income sources like concerts and merchandise, but “most professional songwriters are just that” — songwriters, he said.

Now everyone is relying on streaming, which accounts for 83 percent of US music industry revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

But many artists have long said they aren’t reaping the benefits.

Streaming giants pool subscription money and divvy it up based on aggregate play counts to rights-holders or management organizations, who distribute it according to their agreements.

Artists have long disparaged that dominant model, holding it favors the globe’s biggest stars at the expense of music’s middle class.

Ulvaeus said, Apple recently disclosed it pays, on average, a penny per stream, approximately double what Spotify — which has far more users and thus more streams — pays rights-holders.

The breakdowns of which players — labels, distributors, streaming services, and the owners of performance and publishing copyrights — receive what fraction of revenues depends on specific record deals that are rarely public. But songwriters, especially if they are not also performers, generally receive the smallest pieces.