Comedian highlights Spotify's low payments

David Baddiel has revealed just how little royalties he receives for Three Lions on Spotify.

The comic – who wrote the enduring football anthem with Frank Skinner and Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds –admitted he did well out of the song when it was first released for the 1996 Euros.

But he says earnings have fallen off a cliff since the rise of streaming services, and now receives just 0.003p per play from Spotify.

Asked on Grace Dent’s  Comfort Eating podcast what the record had brought him apart from greater fame, Baddiel said: ‘Not money, for a start.’

He rowed back to say the song initially brought him ‘a fair wedge’ when it when platinum in 1996.

But he added: ‘But not since Spotify took over has it brought us much money. In fact, when England played Colombia in the 2018 World Cup, it was downloaded four ­million times — for which Frank, Ian and I received £1,200 from Spotify.’

Baddiel’s comments came after Monty Python’s Eric Idle partly blamed Spotify’s low royalties rate for the fact he needs to keep working at the age of 80.

Published: 14 Feb 2024