Tom Petty and Kenny Rogers lead musicians objecting to Spotify payout

Tom Petty and Kenny Rogers are among hundreds of musicians challenging a $43.4 million (£32.5 million) royalties settlement agreed by Spotify bosses.
In May (17) executives at the streaming service agreed to the payout to end class action lawsuits brought by musicians David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick.
The settlement would have been shared among all those who owned mechanical licences giving them commercial rights to recordings, potentially including millions of musicians not receiving royalties when their tracks were streamed on Spotify.
On Tuesday (12Sep17) lawyers for hundreds of musicians and composers filed an objection to the settlement in New York’s U.S. District Court, stating the $43 million sum was “grossly insufficient”.
Those who put their names to the filing, obtained by the Digital Music News website, include Petty, Rogers, the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Rage Against the Machine rockers Zach De La Rocha, Tom Morello, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, David Cassidy and the heirs of the late Sonny Bono.
Actor Anthony Hopkins, who moonlights as a classical composer, is also named as an objector.
They contend that the settlement is insufficient as there are 7.5 million potential claimants, meaning that after legal fees are paid each individual award would only be $3.84 (£2.88).
Their filing points out that Spotify bosses under U.S. law face far higher penalties of $150,000 (£112,000) per act of willful copyright infringement, and $30,000 (£22,500) for non-willful breaches.
The musicians are looking to opt out of the $43 million settlement to pursue their own individual, potentially far more lucrative, claims against the company.
Dave Israelite, America’s National Music Publishers’ Association, the representative body for the country’s leading music publishers, has also pledged to challenge the settlement.