Tlaib’s bill aims to make pay more equitable for independent artists 

Zach Aubrey is relatively new to Detroit’s music scene. 

After initially pursuing music with his brother in 2018, the rapper, better known as Lavell MG, took a break from music, coming back to the art in 2022. He has since released a handful of singles and is in the process of working on his first album. 

To promote his music, Aubrey, 25, has released songs on the world’s largest streaming service, Spotify. But with only eight monthly listeners and his most popular song, “1H” being a feature with artist Creiv (2,938 streams), Aubrey doesn’t make any money on the platform. 

“I believe I got a couple cents from streaming and that was from the featured song,” he told BridgeDetroit. “As much as I’m growing and pushing…I’m not really making too much. It’s hard.” 

Musicians currently make a fraction of a penny per stream, or $0.003, on Spotify, and artists would have to obtain more than 800,000 monthly streams to equal a full-time $15 an hour job, according to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib. 

Other streaming services have similar rates: YouTube Music pays artists $0.008 per streamshare, Apple Music $0.006 and Amazon Music $0.004. 

The Democratic congresswoman, alongside former U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, first introduced the Living Wage for Musicians Act to the House last year. Created in partnership with United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), the bill proposes to create a new streaming royalty fund to compensate artists and musicians more fairly when their music plays on streaming services. The legislation is co-sponsored by fellow Democratic U.S. representatives LaMonica McIver (NJ), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Delia Ramirez (IL) and Bennie Thompson (MS).

Tlaib reintroduced the act to Congress in September, but the bill has stalled since then. However, cities are showing support for it. The Detroit City Council unanimously passed a resolution for the proposal in November, and New York City approved a similar resolution in May. Tlaib recently released a video explaining what the bill was. 

“I texted Council President and Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield right away and told her I appreciated her help and support,” Tlaib told BridgeDetroit. “I had no idea they were going to do that. And I really give credit to the independent musicians and artists in Detroit who advocated for this to happen.” 

As an independent artist, Aubrey hustles. He does not make enough to pursue music full-time, so he has to work a day job as a merchandiser for Pepsi. He also makes money performing at concerts, such as the Backwoods and Bonfires Music Festival. 

Aubrey is a supporter of Tlaib’s bill. The rapper is part of The Creative Union, a group that supports Detroit creatives and entrepreneurs. Union co-founder Marcus Miller and members have advocated for the Living Wage Act at City Council meetings. 

“We all are grinding and we put so much into this,” Aubrey said about artists in the industry. “So if they (Congress) pass a law like this, where we can start to make a livable wage, it helps us all out, because you’ll see a bigger return on your investment. Now you’re getting way more motivation. I fully believe in it because we are creators. We all got something to say.” 

How does the bill work? 

Streaming now accounts for 84% of the money generated by the music industry, according to the RIAA, and 67.3% worldwide, according to a 2024 report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which tracks global sales.

Spotify makes up roughly 31% of the total market share, with a reported 626 million users and 246 million subscribers in over 180 markets. YouTube Music and Premium have more than 125 million paid subscribers, while Apple Music has about 93 million subscribers and Amazon Music has 55 million subscribers. 

When it comes to paying the artists who upload their music on the platform, Spotify distributes about two-thirds of each dollar it makes from music streams — a collection of paid subscriptions and advertiser income — to the rights holders of the music on its platform, paid out between recording and publishing agreements, reported the Associated Press. 

The creation of the Living Wage for Musicians Act was inspired by the UMAW members who contacted Tlaib’s office in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying how the closure of public spaces during lockdown and lack of relief funds for musicians were hurting them financially, the congresswoman said.

“I was devastated to hear just how little they made and the fact that they were being left behind, even though their music and the art that they produced brought so much joy to so many people across the nation,” Tlaib said. “It just came to me to say, ‘Well, let’s do something about it,’ because the pandemic exposed how there is no justice for independent artists and the lack of the safety nets that are there. That’s when we had a full discussion about how do we hold the streaming companies accountable.” 

Ann Arbor artist Michael Abbey was part of those discussions as a member of UMAW’s streaming committee. To expedite the process, UMAW began working on the bill in 2021, which took about three years to write, the musician said. 

“We just tried to do as much of the legwork as we possibly could, as far as meeting with pro bono lawyers to sculpt our vision for the bill,” Abbey said. “We were operating in this framework of wanting to do something that was really inspiring to us, but was also in the realm of possibility, something that we didn’t think the major labels would just shut down. We talked to a lot of industry stakeholders to see what our opening was and looked for strong legal precedents that we could use to build something robust.” 

The Artist Compensation Royalty Fund will be distributed directly to both featured artists and non-featured artists (people who work behind the scenes, like a session musician or backup vocalist) by a nonprofit organization instead of through the record labels.  

The bill is designed to pay artists a minimum penny per stream, an amount calculated specifically to provide a working-class artist a living wage from streaming, according to UMAW. 

The compensation fund builds upon existing systems in the music industry, such as the nonprofit SoundExchange collecting and distributing royalties for songs played on satellite and internet radio, Abbey said. 

“Their (artists’) streams would be valued more because there’ll be that extra royalty,” Abbey said. “And there’s an added bonus. That boost could really make a difference in somebody’s life if they are at a point in their career where they have a following of people who are consistently listening to them.” 

Tlaib’s next steps are to partner with UMAW to organize people across the country to raise more awareness about the proposal, especially other congressional members, she said. There’s also an online petition available on the union’s website. As of Monday afternoon, just under 18,000 people have signed. The organization’s goal is to reach 25,600 people.

‘Revolutionary for the music industry’ 

Grand Rapids artist Nicholas James Thomasma has been pursuing music for more than 20 years and has seen the evolution of music listening habits, from CDs to digital downloads to streaming. 

“I used to sell CDs and I’d make money, I used to sell digital downloads and I’d make money,” he said. “Now I upload my music to streaming services and hope that people come to my concerts and buy T-shirts. It has completely changed the model.” 

Thomasma, who is the executive director of the Michigan Music Alliance, said streaming is here to stay, and he hopes Tlaib’s bill passes in Congress. The alliance provides equitable professional growth opportunities for the state’s music community. Thomasma said the nonprofit has not yet spoken with Tlaib, but board members are interested in raising awareness about the act. 

“I believe this will be revolutionary for the music industry,” Thomasma said. “People like streaming in terms of just paying for one service and getting access to pretty much everything. It’s a matter of making the model work for the people who are creating the content that is streaming on these services.” 

Another supporter of the bill is Detroit’s The Creative Union. Miller, the co-founder, doesn’t have an exact number of the creatives who have joined the group, but said they have 6,000 followers across social media platforms and between 6,000 and 8,000 people on their email list. He said the musician act will be beneficial for Detroit’s artist economy and help those who are struggling to make ends meet. 

“If someone told me, however much money I’m making, I’m getting three times as much, it would open up so much room in my life,” Miller said. “It would help them be able to pay their bills, it would help them be able to support their families, feed themselves. We don’t want any starving artists. It’s not the environment we’re pushing for.” 

Hamtramck rapper Brenton Freeman, or B Free, has multiple sources of revenue to stay afloat. He produces and hosts shows, goes on tour and sells his own merchandise on top of his full-time job managing three Hugo Boss stores. Like Aubrey, Freeman is part of The Creative Union. 

Over the past six years, Freeman, 30, has been a brand ambassador for Beats Electronics and Puma, and had a contract with the Detroit Pistons, where he did halftime performances, commercials and other promotional work. Freeman said he recently talked to the Pistons and he may have another opportunity to perform at a Pistons game soon. 

Even with 18,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and 33,000 subscribers on YouTube, Freeman could not survive on streaming services alone.

“Working with Puma, working with the Pistons, utilizing your platform; companies and corporations will see that and say, ‘OK, this artist has a platform. They have people that listen to them actively.’ You work up a deal and then you have some form of monetary gain with that. But as far as streaming alone, nah. It’s not what you think.” 

Freeman wants to hold events to raise awareness about the Living Wage for Musicians Act and get more people to sign the petition. He’s hopeful the piece of legislation will pass. 

“This is what we do,” Freeman said about pursuing music. “This is how we feed our family, this is how we feed ourselves, how we keep clothes on our back and a roof over our head, and if we’re only getting paid a 10th of a penny, it’s financially impossible to do so.”