Weird Al Mocks Spotify Royalties After 80M Streams Earn Just $12
Weird Al Yankovic humorously highlighted the ongoing debate about streaming payouts by commenting on his Spotify Wrapped results. The parody artist claimed his 80 million streams earned him "about $12"—enough for "a nice sandwich at a restaurant."
Weird Al reacts to Spotify Wrapped
While Yankovic's calculation was deliberately understated for comedic effect, it draws attention to the ongoing discussion about streaming compensation. Based on Spotify's typical payout rate of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, 80 million streams would actually generate approximately $240,000 before various deductions and splits.
Spotify recently announced a significant change to its royalty structure, eliminating payments for songs with fewer than 1,000 annual streams. This policy change affects smaller artists particularly hard, as they will now be excluded from the platform's royalty share entirely.
Yankovic's situation is uniquely complex due to his parody work. Though legally protected under fair use, he traditionally seeks permission from original songwriters, resulting in varied royalty-sharing arrangements. As his lawyer Chuck Hurewitz noted in 1991, Yankovic's success has enabled him to negotiate favorable copyright shares for his parody versions.
The artist's tongue-in-cheek commentary joins a chorus of voices in the music industry questioning the fairness of streaming payouts, even as these platforms continue to reshape how music is both created and consumed.
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