Four prominent Grammy-nominated songwriters - Jessi Alexander, Amy Allen, Jessie Jo Dillon, and RAYE - have announced they will boycott Spotify's Songwriter of the Year Grammy party on January 28. The boycott represents four of the five nominees in this category, with Edgar Barrera's attendance status still unknown.

The primary reason for the boycott stems from Spotify's recent reduction in royalty rates for premium streams, affecting songwriters and publishers. This cut is expected to result in approximately $150 million less in royalties over a 12-month period.

Jessie Jo Dillon, who wrote Morgan Wallen's "Lies Lies Lies," stated: "After some thought, I couldn't in good conscience support this initiative given their approach to bundling royalties. It is very nice to be individually honored, but it is better for me and my entire songwriter community to be paid fairly for our art."

The controversy centers around Spotify's reclassification of its Premium subscriptions as "bundled products" due to the addition of audiobooks. This reorganization allows Spotify to pay lower mechanical rates to songwriters and publishers.

Other industry figures have voiced their support for the boycott. Songwriter Ross Golan urged fellow songwriters not to attend, while 2023 Grammy nominee Laura Veltz criticized Spotify's practices in social media posts.

The boycott highlights growing tensions between streaming platforms and content creators over fair compensation in the digital music era. Spotify initiated this Grammy event to celebrate songwriters following the award category's establishment by the Recording Academy in 2023.

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