Windowing is doing more harm than good, suggests a new paper by Will Page, director of economics at Spotify and former chief economist at PRS for Music.

In “Adventures in the Netherlands: Spotify, Piracy and the new Dutch experience”, Page looks at two factors that impact subscription service: piracy and windowing, or the act of holding back a new release from some digital services. Piracy is a well-known scourge and something legal services like Spotify are meant to combat. Windowing is occasionally employed to entice purchases from fans that would otherwise stream.

The paper’s release closely follows public statements by producer Nigel Godrich about Spotify’s royalties. Godrich, producer of numerous Radiohead albums and member of Atoms for Peace (which includes Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea), believes Spotify is bad for artists and record labels because it returns less value than new albums require. A catalog title that has recouped its expenses, he says, is a better candidate for a streaming service.

Read the full story: Billboard