Bundling Audiobook and Podcast Costs into Music Royalties

Spotify's bundling of audiobook and podcast costs into music royalties dilutes the music royalty pool by allocating 25% of subscription revenue to non-music content, reducing per-stream payouts for artists by $0.001 compared to a pure music tier. This practice is worse than the industry average, where even the lowest-paying rivals prioritize music-only splits. As Spotify diversifies beyond audio, musicians now receive less than $0.003 per stream for their songs, a 30% drop from pre-bundling rates, making the platform's expansion a direct attack on artist earnings.