The Society of Authors was deeply concerned last week to learn from press reports that ‘all major book publishers’ have agreed new limited streaming deals with Spotify. Under these agreements, subscribers to the Spotify Premium service in the UK and Australia will gain access to up to 15 hours of audiobook content per month through the Spotify app, from a catalogue of more than 150,000 audiobooks.
As far as we are aware, no authors or agents have been approached for permission for such licences, and authors have not been consulted on licence or payment terms. Publishing contracts differ but in our view most licences given to publishers for licensing of audio do not include streaming. In fact, it is likely that streaming was not a use that had been invented when many such contracts were entered into.
Potential impact
We know the devastating effect that music streaming has had on artists’ incomes, and the impact of streaming and subscription video on demand platforms on screenwriter incomes and their working conditions. We have long been concerned about streaming models for books.
The streaming of audiobooks competes directly with sales and is even more damaging than music streaming because books are typically only read once, while music is often streamed many times.
Sian Bayley wrote in The Bookseller (3 October 2023), ‘Book publishers have long expressed reservations about subscription deals for digital content, but Spotify has offered variations of the typical pooled income arrangement, with a more limited offer that publishers believe will assure agents and authors that their income streams will not be undermined.’
However, authors and agents have simply not been contacted about such offers, let alone reassured. The fact that all major publishers have entered such arrangements at the same time seems to raise questions that perhaps should be reported to the competition authorities.
As Robert Gottlieb, Chairman of Trident Media Group wrote in his comment beneath the same article, ‘Subs****tion services are a good deal for publishers and a bad deal for authors. You’ll note in the article the financials for authors are not dealt with in any detail. Subs****tion services build into the market expectations of low prices which have negative reverberation for authors going forward with consumers. It has a negative impact on backlist titles as well. The financial model for authors at the end of the day means small returns. While many authors struggle to make a fair living these models make matters worse for authors both in book sales and financially. Given these facts publishers must let authors opt out of Subs****tion services if they wish to. What is also a great concern is publishers in mass agreeing to terms for this business model. This type of behavior is what triggered investigations by the Department of Justice in the US.’
Urgent action needed from publishers
We ask that publishers contact authors and agents immediately to inform them of the details of the proposed deals and to seek their approval.
We demand that all publishers:
- Inform their authors and agents with full transparency about the deals they have negotiated, to seek permission in full respect of their right not to give permission and to remove their books from the Spotify catalogue.
- Negotiate an appropriate share of the receipts on a clear and equitable payment model, which should equate to no less than the amount that would be received from a sale of the same audiobook.
- Ensure that with all licences that Spotify applies frictions, as with e-lending, such as time limited loans and guarantees of payment, whatever proportion of the book is read.
- Ensure that licences are time limited and should not allow sublicensing or use on other platforms.
- Indemnify authors if the unauthorised use conflicts with existing film or other such deals, or if it leads to claims of copyright infringement by rightsholders of quotations or images included in that.
- Ensure that licences include safeguards to prevent pirating of authors’ and narrators’ works and voices including for use in AI systems.
SoA members look forward to hearing from publishers as a matter of urgency to restore partnership, transparency and trust.
For direct advice from the SoA’s contracts team on how this move affects you email info@societyofauthors.org.
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