Written by Rhian Jones — The UK-based Music Managers Forum has applauded Sony’s Spotify equity payout — the details of which were revealed last week.
The terms under which Sony will share its spoils from the sale of 50% of its Spotify stock – amounting to around $750m – have been deemed a “progressive move” by MMF CEO Annabella Coldrick.
Sony will pay out its Spotify money to all eligible artists and partner labels, regardless of what is decreed in their individual contracts.
In addition, the major label has committed to ignoring all unrecouped balances (for both artists and labels) in relation to its share money payouts.
Coldrick said: “The Music Managers Forum has long campaigned for the income from Spotify equity to be shared with artists whose music the labels traded.
“We’re very pleased to hear from Sony that they will be doing this both directly and with artists signed to distributed labels, and not off-setting it against recoupment.
“This is a progressive move which we hope to see reflected more widely in the industry and across other non-attributed income such as Facebook.
“The music industry is changing and the future will be different from the past. Labels will work increasingly in partnership with artists and not be “owners” of their rights.
“This shift should see more equitable shares of all revenue going to the artists and songwriters, not just on a royalty basis.”
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