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Global pop star says she can’t afford to take a week off due to how little she gets paid from streaming

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Sevdaliza might have more than 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but that doesn’t mean much when it comes to making ends meet. The Iranian-Dutch artist has made waves in the electronic-pop sphere with her experimental music, but that seemingly amounts to a drop in the bucket when it comes to her bank account.

“I have been an independent artist for 12 years releasing music, I’ve built everything including a fanbase without majors, and I still can’t afford to take a week off,” tweeted Sevdaliza, adding that on average, one million streams amounts to an artist being paid $2,500. “Deduct taxes, management and cost of product. How are we expected to ever make music sustainable?” wondered the artist who once collaborated with Grimes.

Sevdaliza’s message was a response to a viral post from another artist, James Blake, regarding the streaming system. 

“If we want quality music somebody is gonna have to pay for it,” he said, explaining the waning options for making money. “Streaming services don’t pay properly, labels want a bigger cut than ever and just sit and wait for you to go viral, TikTok doesn’t pay properly, and touring is getting prohibitively expensive for most artists.” 

How much does Spotify pay per stream?

Indeed, streaming has overtaken the music industry—Spotify reported record growth, adding 31 million premium subscribers last year. Much like how royalties checks for actors are slimmer for a Netflix show than a cable one, payouts from these music streaming services don’t have the same impact that physical albums once did. Artist Zoë Keating shared with Business Insider in 2020 that for her, a single stream from Apple Music accounted for $0.012; on Spotify, she’d receive just $0.003 after distributor fees. 

No one said making it big was easy, but it seems all the more impossible these days for independent artists to catch a break. The streaming era has made the process all the more grueling as independent artists struggle to make a living in an especially volatile economy. 

“If we got paid a meaningful income from streaming, that could be a weekly grocery shop; it could contribute to your rent or your mortgage when you need it the most,” artist Nadine Shah told the New York Times. “That’s why I felt compelled to talk about it. I saw so many artists struggling.” Of course, the creator economy can make it even more difficult to become a star amongst all the short-form competition out there.

Responding to James Blake’s post, Lauren Jauregui (who rose to fame as a member of Fifth Harmony) says that amongst her artist friends, “everyone feels like we have no right to get paid for our work.” Claiming that music is the only industry that’s like this, Jauregui adds that people “conflate popularity or follower count with ‘success’ [so] they can’t conceptualize how extractive and abusive these systems are to us.” In response, Sevdaliza said she was looking to combat the exploitation by potentially “starting a music artist union, that solely advocates for the rights of musicians.”

How much do independent artists make on Spotify?

Spotify told Fortune that independent artists accounted for the almost half of what the entire industry generated on the platform for the first time ever during 2023. The many indie musicians made almost $4.5 billion this past year, per a spokesperson.

As it stands, being an artist isn’t tenable, as Sevdaliza describes it. “I have to sacrifice my health and can’t be a present mother, because of our business model,” the artist says. “The thing is, if you want to make it in music, you can’t stop. I love music so much, and I don’t ever want to give up but we don’t get paid for our art. It doesn’t make any sense.”

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 6, 2024.

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Trump to strip legal status from 532,000 migrants living in US

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The Trump administration will revoke temporary legal status from potentially more than half a million migrants who entered the US legally under a Biden-era program, according to a notice posted Friday in the Federal Register.

The 35-page notice, set to be formally published March 25, outlines the administration’s plan to end humanitarian parole and accompanying work permits for nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who were allowed to fly directly to the US after applying from abroad. CBS News first reported the change.

Roughly 532,000 people entered the US under the policy, but it’s unclear how many still hold that legal status, the Department of Homeland Security said. Those without another lawful way to remain will be required to leave or face deportation starting in late April.

The administration has already declined to extend Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians, a separate designation, which affects hundreds of thousands of people already in the country. The first group is set to lose their permission to live and work in the US as early as April.

Read More: Cheap US Beef at Risk as Trump Seeks to Deport Haitian Workers

Eliminating the parole program, known as CNHV, marks a significant escalation of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, expanding enforcement to include many migrants who entered the US legally and have no criminal record.

The CNHV program was launched by President Joe Biden in 2023 to offer a legal alternative to dangerous border crossings, particularly through the treacherous Darien Gap. Trump has long criticized such programs as illegal and tantamount to open-border policies.

As a candidate, Trump vowed to end illegal immigration at the southwest border and carry out the largest deportation in US history. 

Since he took office, federal agents have made more than 30,000 arrests of people living in the country illegally, often in coordination with Justice Department agencies. While officials say enforcement targets serious offenders, some arrests have involved people whose only violation is lacking legal immigration status. The administration has not disclosed how many have been deported.

Read More: Trump Aides Shutter Homeland Security Civil Rights Office

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is dismantling internal watchdogs for the Department of Homeland Security, including its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which examines abuse and discrimination within immigration enforcement. Civil rights advocates and lawmakers say the move eliminates key oversight as the administration ramps up detentions and prepares for mass deportations.

Also on Friday, DHS posted a notice extending a January determination that there is an ongoing or imminent influx of migrants at the southern border, even as arrests in February fell to 8,300 — a monthly low not seen in decades.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Schumer sees Americans rising up if Trump defies court orders

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted Americans will “rise up” if President Donald Trump defies courts that challenge his policies, saying he doesn’t trust Trump’s pledges to abide by judicial rulings.

Schumer was responding to a question on NBC’s Meet the Press about a previous comment that any such effort by Trump would require “extraordinary action” by Democrats. 

If “the public is so, so angry and takes action — and certainly we Democrats will — it will trigger a mass movement from one end of the country to the other, something that we haven’t seen in a very long time,” Schumer said.

Trump’s push to test the limits of executive power has played out in a clash with a US district judge over the deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members who ended up in a prison in El Salvador. 

The judge, James Boasberg, admonished the administration for disregarding his order on March 15 to halt the deportation flights. Trump has dubbed Boasberg a “radical left” judge and called for his impeachment, prompting a rebuke by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Schumer struck a defiant tone toward his own party when asked about his decision to end a blockade by Senate Democrats against a Republican spending plan to avert a government shutdown.

“Look, I’m not stepping down,” said Schumer, whose stance prompted a backlash among some Democrats. Those questioning his decision include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Read more: Schumer Leads a Party in Conflict After Retreat on Shutdown

A shutdown “would be 15 or 20 times worse” by handing the Trump administration an opportunity to “eviscerate” the government, he said.

Schumer argued that Democrats shouldn’t allow themselves to be split over disagreements about how to deal with the short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution.

“Our goal, our plan, which we’re united on, is to make Donald Trump the quickest lame duck in modern history by showing how bad his policies are,” Schumer said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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America’s European allies are trying to pry millions of their unspent money back from USAID

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Three European allies provided millions of dollars that the United States was supposed to spend for low-income countries. Then the Trump administrationand Elon Musk’s government-cutters arrived.

Government officials from Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands told The Associated Press that a combined $15 million they contributed for joint development work overseas has been parked at the U.S. Agency for International Development for months.

After the Republican administration and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut USAID’s funding and the bulk of its programs, the Europeans asked whether their money would be funneled to projects as expected or refunded.

They have gotten no response.

“It’s a concern for us, especially as we want our partner organizations to be compensated for the work they have put into the programs,” said Julia Lindholm, a spokeswoman for the Swedish government’s international development agency.

The true total may be larger. Other foreign governments also had money entrusted with USAID for distribution in a range of joint development projects at the time President Donald Trump ordered the funding freeze on Jan. 20, according to an official directly familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The worries point to the extent to which the new administration’s abrupt cutoff of foreign assistance and canceling of contracts for humanitarian and development work are raising questions about Washington’s financial reliability. They also show further strain between allies as Trump revamps American foreign policy.

The State Department and USAID did not immediately respond to questions asking how many foreign governments had money for joint development programs going unspent and unrefunded in the USAID funding freeze, how much money that was in total, and whether the administration was doing anything about it.

Concerns from American allies

Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands had been partnering with USAID on a project called Water and Energy for Food, or WE4F. It helps farmers and others in poorer countries develop innovative ways to grow more food without straining water supplies or depending on climate-damaging forms of energy.

“Most importantly,” Lindholm said by email, the U.S. failure so far to disburse or refund allies’ donations is harming ”6 million of the poorest and most vulnerable farmers in the world who are dependent on the technologies for their food production and food security.”

Other administration actions already have alarmed traditional partners. Trump has said he would not necessarily follow the mutual-defense pact underlying the NATO security agreement, he has advanced some of Russia’s talking points and demands in its invasion of Ukraine and has imposed tariffs on Canada, the European Union and others.

America as a reliable financial partner

Now, doubts about the U.S. as a reliable business partner have emerged in lawsuits over the administration’s abrupt cancellation of what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said were 83% of USAID contracts, forcing partner organizations to lay off workers and driving some out of business.

In a brief supporting a lawsuit from federal workers, former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Perry, former CIA Director Michael Hayden and more than a dozen other former senior U.S. officials said the administration’s mass canceling of thousands of USAID contracts was flouting U.S. financial regulations and “destroying the United States’ credibility as a reliable partner.”

Canceling the contracts “sends a message that this administration does not feel bound by those regulations — regulations on which every business that works with the United States relies,” the former officials said.

In another case, lawyers for nonprofits and businesses seeking payment from USAID told a judge that because of the financial chaos surrounding the agency’s dismantling, banks have stopped what used to be routine financing for USAID partners based on their contracts with the U.S. agency.

Since the Cold War, the national security argument for development programs has been that making poorer countries more prosperous and stable lessens refugee flows and conflicts.

Trump and Musk call foreign assistance through USAID in particular a fraud and scam. Administration officials are looking at focusing U.S. development efforts much more narrowly on combating China’s influence abroad and boosting U.S. trade and business opportunities.

Seeking money back from the Trump administration

Growing steadily more alarmed by the administration’s foreign aid moves, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands initially sent USAID emails inquiring about the money they had parked in USAID accounts.

Frustrated at getting no response, two of them warned in the government-to-government emails that they were looking at talking to local media about their missing money, according to the official directly familiar with the matter.

Under court order, the administration has started making good on some $2 billion USAID already owed when Trump ordered the freeze in USAID and State Department foreign assistance on Inauguration Day.

But forced leaves and firings have yanked most officials and workers at USAID’s headquarters off the job. That includes many who oversaw development programs and would be involved in tracking down numbers and calculating any refunds for the foreign governments.

Sweden’s development agency told the AP that it estimates it has $12 million total, including $5.1 million for WE4F, sitting in USAID accounts — money going unspent for people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and unrefunded by the administration.

Lindholm, the spokesperson for Sweden’s development agency, called the WE4F program “extraordinarily impactful,” with measurable benefits for farmers and others many times greater than the program’s initial targets.

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation told the AP that it has received no information about the fate of a $1.4 million funding tranche for WE4F since Trump began dissolving USAID.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said it reached out to the U.S. aid agency on how much of the $1.6 million it had given most recently for WE4F had yet to be disbursed by USAID and should be refunded, but that it had not yet gotten any response.

“Donor partners are now exploring other opportunities to continue to run the WE4F programme to ensure a responsible completion,” Lindholm said by email.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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