Apple's about-face regarding independent artists and royalties continues.
Days after Apple changed its royalty policy following a complaint by Taylor Swift, the tech giant has reportedly struck deals with thousands of independent record labels worldwide Tuesday for its upcoming Apple Music streaming service.
Apple Music's signees include independents' digital rights organization Merlin and the Beggars Group, which is the powerhouse behind artists such as Adele, Vampire Weekend, Radiohead, the Prodigy and Arcade Fire. Beggars consists of four imprints: XL, 4AD, Matador and Rough Trade. Merlin reps 20,000 labels and distributors worldwide.
Remember, this comes after Apple had originally proposed not paying indie artists during users' 90-day, free-trial period. But the power of Swift and her Sunday blog, which criticized Apple for that proposal, made the company re-think its policy and change it.
Now, according to reports, at least 71.5 percent of the revenue Apple Music garners in sales will go to royalties, but the tech giant hasn't yet rolled out a plan for how it will pay during the free-trial period.
Still, an independent leader like Beggars couldn't be more pleased with the 180-degree change.
"Over the last few days, we have had increasingly fruitful discussions with Apple," Martin Mills, the founder of Beggars Group, said in a statement to the New York Times. "We are now delighted to say that we are happy to endorse the deal with Apple Music as it now stands, and look forward to being a big part of a very exciting future."
Last week, Beggars and Apple clearly weren't seeing eye-to-eye over Apple Music's initial decision to not pay artists during the first 90 days of the trial period.
"Whilst we understand the logic of their proposal and their aim to introduce a subscription-only service, we struggle to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple's customer acquisition costs," Beggars said in a statement to the Times just last week.
Oh, what one Taylor Swift blog will do. That's some clout.
