Common Music Group (UMG) and Amazon Music have collectively introduced a renewed worldwide licensing settlement immediately (December 23).
In line with a press launch, the deal encompasses an “expanded world relationship that may allow additional innovation, unique content material with UMG artists, and development of artist-centric ideas together with elevated fraud safety“.
The PR claims that the deal will be sure that “UMG’s artists obtain their industrial potential via [Amazon Music’s] continued product enhancements and unique content material that elevate genuine engagement between artists and followers“.
Talking in an announcement immediately, Common Music Group CEO & Chairman, Sir Lucian Grainge, commented: “We’re very excited to advance our long-standing, glorious partnership with Amazon Music that marks a brand new period in streaming — Streaming 2.0.”
This isn’t the primary time we’ve heard “Streaming 2.0” talked about by Grainge and his administration group.
It was on the middle of UMG’s Capital Markets Day for buyers in September, the place it was defined that for UMG, ‘Streaming 2.0’ represents a brand new period of digital music held on adjustments, together with:
- (a) Streaming subscription choices turning into ‘segmented’, with costlier choices for music ‘superfans’;
- (b) Subscription ARPU (common income per consumer) transferring upwards throughout music platforms, partly because of the aforementioned ‘superfan’-targeted choices, and partly because of future streaming worth rises.
An extra key pillar of ‘Streaming 2.0’ is the adoption of what UMG calls “artist-centric ideas” by streaming platforms.
In brief, ‘artist-centric’ changes have an effect on the best way music streaming platforms pay out royalties, sometimes benefitting artists who’ve constructed vital fanbases vs. acts with fewer than 1,000 month-to-month listeners.
‘Artist-centric’ additionally encompasses a mission to curb the affect of streaming ‘fraud’ on platforms, together with makes an attempt by organized criminals to make use of ‘faux’ performs of AI music to extract cash from the royalty pool.
Commenting additional on the brand new Amazon deal, Sir Lucian Grainge mentioned: “We respect Amazon Music’s deep dedication to the pursuits of our artists, and stay up for progressing our shared artist-centric aims via product innovation and accelerating development of their service.”
Steve Growth, VP of Audio, Twitch and Video games for Amazon, added: “UMG has at all times been a collaborative associate to Amazon Music, and as we proceed to invent and introduce extra artist-to-fan connections via our product and unique content material, we’re redefining what it means to be a streaming service.
“We’re thrilled to develop our relationship with UMG which can allow us to associate on significant new methods for artists to deepen their engagement with followers all over the world, whereas working collectively to guard the work of artists, songwriters and publishers.”
Curiously, the brand new settlement features a pledge from UMG to “collaborate with Amazon Music because it continues to develop in audio, together with additional innovation in audiobooks, audio and visible programming, and its funding in livestreamed content material”.
The point out of audiobooks there comes round one month after Amazon introduced it was making Audible audiobooks obtainable for Amazon Music Limitless subscribers.
In distinction to a separate (and now-infamous) audiobook bundling transfer from Spotify earlier this yr, the Amazon announcement was met with the blessing of main music publishers.
The press launch issued by Amazon and UMG immediately additional mentions either side’ dedication to “advance and safeguard human artistry” – a reference to addressing points attributable to AI-generated content material.Music Enterprise Worldwide
