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Mar 18, 2021
Indie Labels Go to Bat for Indie Artists
There’s a reason FMC is so often aligned with independent labels: this community, representing a diverse array of genres and business models, typically does right by artists. Today’s news that more than 700 indies are backing fair treatment of musicians is further proof that indies have a different way of doing business than major labels.
Independent imprints including Domino, Cooking Vinyl, Epitaph, Glassnote, Nettwerk, Ninja Tune, Secretly Canadian, Saddle Creek, Sub Pop, Tommy Boy, XL Recordings and the Beggars Group (which includes indie powerhouses 4AD, Matador and Rough Trade) and many more signed on to the “Fair Digital Deals Declaration,” a commitment by the labels to treat artists fairly and equitably on today’s digital distribution platforms.
Spearheaded by the Worldwide Independent Network, the declaration includes the following provisions that its signatories pledge to uphold:
1. Ensure that artists’ share of download and streaming revenues is clearly explained in recording agreements and royalty statements in reasonable summary form.
2. Account to artists a good-faith pro-rata share of any revenues and other compensation from digital services that stem from the monetization of recordings but are not attributed to specific recordings or performances.
3. Encourage better standards of information from digital services on the usage and monetization of music.
4. Support artists who choose to oppose, including publicly, unauthorized uses of their music.
5. Support the collective position of the global independent record company sector.
FMC supports these commitments because we understand how musicians can be disadvantaged when major labels are allowed to dictate terms on digital services ranging from Spotify to YouTube. The past decade has seen a lot of criticisms of labels in general, but we’ve always taken pains to point out that this is a diverse community that includes proudly independent businesses that strive to do right by their artist partners. And that’s something to celebrate.
Let’s look at what each of these committments mean for musicians.
1. Ensure that artists’ share of download and streaming revenues is clearly explained in recording agreements and royalty statements in reasonable summary form.
Basically, this means that the indie labels will strive to present accurate and comprehensible accounting of money generated from digital music and how artist royalties are calculated and distributed. Compare that to the non-disclosure agreements and convoluted contracts common to the major labels. We support greater transparency for and accountibility to musicians across the board, and applaud the indies for stepping up.
2. Account to artists a good-faith pro-rata share of any revenues and other compensation from digital services that stem from the monetization of recordings but are not attributed to specific recordings or performances.
You may have heard the term “digital breakage.” Basically that boils down to the fact that major labels try to inflate their value in order to squeeze out more money from digital music services. The indie label trade asssociation A2IM explains that major label agreements often include “a combination of a per stream rate, revenue sharing, equity in the service, minimum guaranteed revenues, and an advance. If the advance or minimum guarantees exceed the amount earned during the licensing period the label will earn ‘breakage’ in excess of the earned amount.” That’s basically free money to the labels based on sketchy exaggerations of market share. Worse, this “unattributed income” isn’t shared with artists. The indie labels are absolutely right to point out the unfairness of these practices, which distorts the market for music and disadvantages creators.
3. Encourage better standards of information from digital services on the usage and monetization of music.
This gets back to the idea of transparency. In theory, this is something that everyone in the digital music space can support. But we definitely can do more to encourage parties to be more transparent—including the services, but most certainly the major labels and publishers, who are often all too happy to make direct deals without creators having any sense at all about how those deals were determined. High five to the indies for making transparency a rallying cry. We’ve been there the whole time, and are happy to be in good company.
4. Support artists who choose to oppose, including publicly, unauthorized uses of their music.
We’ve said forever that artists should have a choice in how their work is exploited and under what conditions. In fact, this was part of our testimony before Congress just yesterday. We want to see the growth of a legitimate digital marketplace that rewards creators and fans alike. So yeah, artists are totally within their rights to condemn unauthorized use of their work.
We’ve said forever that artists should have a choice in how their work is exploited and under what conditions. In fact, this was part of our testimony before Congress just yesterday. We want to see the growth of a legitimate digital marketplace that rewards creators and fans alike. So yeah, artists are totally within their rights to condemn unauthorized use of their work.
5. Support the collective position of the global independent record company sector.
Independent sector, we have your back, and we’re glad you have ours.
Tweet your support of indie labels and artsts using the #fairdigitaldeal4artists hashtag!
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