NMPA Reports Spotify and Amazon Bundling Cost Nearly $500M in Lost Value Since 2024
Categoria: Musica
At its annual meeting, the NMPA also reported that, even with this lost value, U.S. publishing revenue has grown every year since 2014, equaling $7.3 billion in 2025.
Por Billboard | 10/06/2026
U.S. music publishing revenue rose to $7.3 billion in 2025, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed at its annual meeting on Wednesday (June 10). This is up from $7.04 billion in 2024 , which the trade organization reported at last year’s meeting, and $6.2 billion in 2023. The meeting, held at Alice Tully Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center, is considered a state of the union for U.S. music publishers and attended by the industry’s highest-ranking publishers and songwriters. This year, its chief legal officer and chief operating officer, Danielle Aguirre , focused her speech on the financial health of the U.S. publishing business. She explained how Spotify and Amazon ‘s 2024 moves to shift some of their subscription tiers to “bundles” — meaning a subscription tier that includes multiple offerings for a discounted price tag, thus qualifying it for a reduced U.S. mechanical royalty rate — led to a loss of almost $500 million in value for songwriters and publishers. Related NMPA Inks Deals With Udio & KLAY, Marking First Industry-Wide Licensing Pacts With Major AI Music Firms Carly Pearce Signs With BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville Clive Davis Hospitalized in New York After Respiratory Issue — UPDATE This subject was also addressed at the NMPA annual meeting last year, where it was noted that the first year under bundling lost songwriters and publishers $230 million in total. Since it unveiled its bundled tiers, Spotify in particular has inked deals with numerous NMPA members — and the NMPA itself — to improve remuneration for songwriters. However, a source close to the matter previously told Billboard that these deals primarily did this by opening up a new revenue stream for licensing music videos on the streaming service, rather than changing the U.S. mechanical rate. Financials The NMPA annual meeting noted that U.S. publishing revenue has climbed again in 2025 to $7.3 billion. The organization reports that this means publishing is outpacing the growth of recorded music for the fourth year in a row, and that it has continued to grow year over year since 2014, around the time that streaming took off. U.S. publishing revenue for 2025 breaks down to the following: Performance: 52% Sync: 24% Mechanical: 19% Other: 5% Aguirre also noted that deals negotiated and settled by the NMPA in the past fiscal year have led to the distribution of about $110 million to its membership. This means NMPA’s legal recovery under “the modern NMPA” is nearly $1.5 billion in total. “What was in 2024 a DSP-wide royalty distribution of 55% mechanical to 45% performance has flipped to now 53% performance and 47% mechanical due solely to the bundling implemented by Spotify and Amazon,” explained Aguirre. “This is concerning because mechanical royalties, as you guys know, are paid through the MLC, and the MLC does not take out a commission or any fee from you for ad