The report cites sources in reporting that the music streaming giant is offering advances to a number of managers and Indie acts for a direct licensing agreement, which will also result in both parties getting a larger share of revenue. In some cases detailed by Billboard by the sources, managers and acts can take home 50 percent of the revenue per stream of licensed songs.
While this is less than the average of 54 percent paid to major record labels, it would still result in a larger cut for the artists and managers who may typically only get between 20 percent and 50 percent of the major label's share. Additionally, Spotify is not looking for exclusivity or rights to the content beyond the right to use it on its service, meaning the Indie acts can also license their music to rivals like Apple Music. Indeed, the sources even told Billboard that Spotify has urged participating Indie acts not to describe themselves as being "signed to Spotify."
The advances being offered are reportedly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
Spotify is limited in its ability to get closer to artists by the licensing deals it has signed with major record companies which prohibit it from engaging in meaningful competition with their core business.
Source: Billboard
Written by: James Delahunty @ 7 Jun 2018 2:41
