“These actions harm consumers and could deeply damage the marketplace and the music royalty system,” wrote Sen. Blackburn and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) in a June 20 letter sent to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “We urge the FTC to investigate the impact of Spotify’s recent actions, to take steps to protect Americans from being forced into subscriptions without notice or choice, and to safeguard the music marketplace.”
Spotify and other digital music service providers must pay songwriters and music publishers royalty rates per federal regulations set by the Copyright Royalty Board, so they charge subscribers a monthly fee for access to premium, ad-free, subscription music services.
Current regulations allow digital music providers to pay a lower music royalty rate if their paid music subscription offering is bundled with other legitimate product offerings, wrote the senators.
“Seeing an opportunity, Spotify has exploited this regulation by converting all Premium Plan music subscribers into a new, bundled subscription offering without consumers’ consent or any notice,” Sen. Blackburn and her colleague wrote. “Spotify’s intent seems clear — to slash the statutory royalties it pays to songwriters and music publishers.”
After pushback, they added, Spotify did relaunch a music-only paid service, now called a Basic Plan, which is only available to certain existing subscribers — not new subscribers.
“Additionally, Spotify has hidden the Basic Plan so that existing subscribers must jump through endless hoops to find the option,” they wrote. “As of January 2025, only a handful of Spotify’s millions of Premium Plan subscribers switched back to a music-only Basic plan.”
As the largest music streaming service in the United States, Spotify has achieved market dominance in the American music streaming economy and its actions will have lasting repercussions on the creative community and consumers across the country, according to the lawmakers.
“We urge the FTC to investigate this matter, and we look forward to working with you on these important issues facing Americans,” they added.