bout seven years ago I attended a digital distributor presentation hosted by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). The distributor representative explained how one should fill out their form, row by row, when one submits a recording in order for them to put it on iTunes. “And this is the field for who wrote the song and their publishers,” he explained, “which is optional to fill out…”.
“Hold on a second,” I exclaimed incredulously, waiving my arm in order to get his attention to stop. “You do know what we in the audience do for a living, right?”
I was shocked that supplying that vital information was not a requirement. Now, seven years later –an eon, in digital years –I’m shocked (though perhaps not completely surprised) that things haven’t changed. Spotify is facing numerous lawsuits over not paying all those who wrote the songs that underpin the service, promptly. To which the streaming service responded: “we want to pay songwriters – we just don’t know who to pay.