Friday, June 19, 2015

Independent British record company still in talks with Apple over terms of Music trial

Independent British record company still in talks with Apple over terms of Music trial

The owner of a number of independent labels has confirmed that they do not yet have an agreement with Apple over the company's upcoming Apple Music service, citing royalty issues with the service's three-month trial.

British record company Beggars Group, which owns a number of independent music labels, including 4ad, XL Recordings, and The Young Turks, has stated that they have not yet reached an agreement for Apple Music. The roadblock, as reportedly earlier this week is the terms for Music's three-month free trial, during which time Apple will not pay labels for streams.

From Beggars Group

We are naturally very concerned, especially for artists releasing new albums in the next three months, that all streaming on the new service will be unremunerated until the end of September. 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 Group notes that while there is no agreement as of yet, they hope they will be able to negotiate something more favorable that will allow their labels and artists to be a part of the service. The labels owned by Beggars Group represent several artists, including Alabama Shakes and FKA Twigs, both of which featured prominently in Apple Music's announcement during WWDC 2015, as well as on Apple's official Music website.

Apple Music is scheduled to launch in just under two weeks' time on June 30.

Source: Beggars Group











Nikki Reed
Elisha Cuthbert

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