Rhapsody and Napster To Pay Songwriters Up To $10M In Class Action Settlement

The law firm representing musician and artist advocate David Lowery and other songwriters has filed a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement that will see self-published songwriters paid as much as $10 million by Rhapsody and it's Napster music streaming service.

The settlement, filed in the US District Court Of Northern California will pay self-published songwriters $35 for every composition that Rhapsody played that is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, and $1 for every unregistered composition the service played at least 24 times with a cap of $10 million.

The national Music Publishers Association has already settled with Rhapsody, and a similar indie artists class action settlement with Spotify was settled for $42 million last year.

Rhapsody has also agreed to create an artist advisory board with an annual budget of at least $30,000 to promote the service as a creator-friendly platform, and add an artist referral program that pays artists $10 fee for each subscriber they refer. 

“We weren’t just looking at money,” attorney Sanford Michelman told Billboard. “Artists also have non-economic rights, as well as this board and a voice on business practices.”

Hypebot will follow the settlement and let independent artists know how they can collect their fair share.