More than 700 independent record labels from 23 countries have signed a document calling for fair and transparent digital music deals. XL, Beggars Group, Domino, Sub Pop and Secretly Canadian are among the company who have signed the Worldwide Independent Network's Fair Digital Deals Declaration, which aims to level the playing field between indie labels, major labels and online platforms such as YouTube, iTunes and Spotify.
"Why wouldn’t we treat artists fairly?" Beggars chairman Martin Mills said in a statement. "It seems so obvious that we shouldn't have to say it, but let's say it – loud and proud."
The Fair Digital Deals Declaration contains a coded response to some of the most controversial aspects of the contemporary music business. Beside the lines about "supporting artists who … [oppose] unauthorised uses of their music" and making sure that digital revenues are "clearly explained" in contracts and royalty statements, this document also challenges one of the industry's most lucrative behind-the-scenes policies: withholding "unattributed" digital revenue from musicians.
As Billboard has pointed out, it is an "existing standard practice of large rights holders and some major labels" to ink special deals with online platforms that give them additional compensation in exchange for access to their music catalogue. Whether as cash or equity, this revenue is not directly linked to any particular artist, album or song; accordingly, musicians rarely receive a share.
Not so for the signatories of this document: these labels have vowed to "share the benefits of dealing with digital services fairly and clearly with artists". "[We will] account to artists a good-faith pro rata share of any revenues and other compensation from digital services that stem from the monetisation of recordings but are not attributed to specific recordings or performances," they wrote.
"We invite companies – majors and indies – to join the hundreds of companies who have already signed, and put a stop to the practise of diverting revenues from the artists without whom we would not have a business," said Alison Wenham, who chairs the Worldwide Independent Network. But WIN's new release also includes the Global Independent Manifesto, which lobbies for major labels to stop dominating the independents. "[Indies] deserve equal market access and parity of terms with Universal, Sony and Warner," it states in the manifesto, "and an independent copyright should be valued and remunerated at the same level as a major company copyright."
In June, YouTube was accused of threatening indie labels with a new, Spotify-style streaming service. According to a leaked version of the proposed contract, indie record companies would be subject to whatever royalty rates YouTube negotiates with the major labels.
