[UPDATED] When Spotify and Musixmatch announced a partnership that made easily accessible lyrics an integral part of the music streaming service, it was hailed as both a win for fans as well as for songwriters who would benefit from an additional income stream. Now, that partnership has ended abruptly, apparently under less than favorable circumstances.
Lyrics disappeared suddenly from Spotify last Friday; and now we know the reason: the partnership between the music streamer and lyrics provider Musixmatch has ended. The partnership was terminated when the two companies could not come to terms over payments, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.
“We will not allow anybody to ignore our business model”
Musixmatch also suggested that unfavorable terms are behind the split.
“We regret the end of this partnership, but we must keep to our product and our users above all else. We will not allow anybody to ignore our business model'” said Max Ciociola, CEO & Founder of Musixmatch. “We want to focus on what is right for us, to protect all of you, our users. We don’t want to run the risk of Musixmatch no longer existing… What we want is to create a stand alone experience with a healthy business model that allows us, to support ourselves and our rights owners.“
For it’s part, Spotify has been relatively quiet; only confirming that lyrics had been eliminated while it worked on “big improvements to the feature.” It’s unclear if that’s just corporate obfuscation or if Spotify already has another partner or plan to bring lyrics back to the service quickly.
Musixmatch will continue to operate as a standalone app.
The company did not rule out working with other music streaming service in the future, but only under the right terms. “We would eventually like to offer this experience to third parties, however only if the the economic value is recognized.”