Apple Reportedly Reaches Deal With Some Indie Labels For Apple Music

Last week we reported that while the major labels have pretty much all signed on with Apple for Apple Music, the indie labels were the ones who were giving Apple the biggest resistance. However if the sources of Billboard are accurate, it seems that Apple has managed to come to an agreement with several of them.

The report claims that Apple has managed to achieve last-minute signings with Merlin and Martin Mills’ Beggars Group, both of whom are organizations that represents a fair number of indie labels and the artists under those labels. According to a letter that was supposedly sent by Merlin’s CEO Charles Caldas to its members:

“I am pleased to say that Apple has made a decision to pay for all usage of Apple Music under the free trials on a per-play basis, as well as to modify a number of other terms that members had been communicating directly with Apple about. With these changes, we are happy to support the deal.”

Prior to this the main reason indie labels were hesitant to sign with Apple was because they were worried about the 3-month trial period offered to Apple Music listeners. While this feature is a boon for customers, it meant that artists would not get paid during those 3 months which did not sit well with them or with mainstream sensation Taylor Swift.

Swift then penned an open letter to Apple who surprisingly addressed Swift’s concerns and promised that artists would get paid during that trial period. Hopefully with the change of heart, we can expect Apple to bring on more artists which is obviously needed in order to have a successful streaming service.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Audio