What was reported
The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) reported that Spotify and Amazon's practice of bundling music with other services, such as audiobooks, has reduced the mechanical royalty rate paid on those subscriptions. The NMPA estimates the sustained effect at nearly $500 million in lost publisher royalties since 2024 and presented the data as a significant hit to songwriter income.
Source: NMPA News. Summary and commentary below are original to Artispreneur.
What it means for independent artists
Bundling is an accounting classification with a songwriter at the end of it. When a subscription counts as a bundle, the music inside it is paid at a lower mechanical rate, and writers with no leverage absorb the difference quietly. You cannot renegotiate Spotify's bundle. You can make sure the royalties you are owed at whatever rate are actually registered, matched, and collected, which is the part of this story an independent writer controls.
This is also why publishing literacy is becoming a survival skill rather than a back office detail. Writers who understand which royalty is which can spot a shrinking line item and know which fight it belongs to. Writers who do not just see a smaller check and assume the music earned less.