Swedish independent music distribution and artist services company Amuse is expanding its data-driven royalty advance service, Fast Forward.
Amuse, which offers completely free music distribution for independent artists to services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and others, launched Fast Forward in February last year to pay eligible self-releasing artists advances on future royalties.
Fast Forward is now fully integrated with the service’s Royalty Splits feature, which means that artist collaborators like producers, managers and other creators will also be able to advance themselves future earnings.
Today’s news follow’s the launch of the company’s subscription tier Amuse Pro in March this year, which included the Royalty Splits tool, however all Amuse users can now set up Royalty Splits, even if they’re not subscribed to the Pro tier. Non-Pro users will be charged a fee of 15% of their share of a split.
Amuse’s data-driven Fast Forward service uses machine learning and the company’s access to users’ streaming data to automatically calculate future royalties for eligible artists.
The company’s system can analyze more than 65 billion data points to determine future royalties on an individual basis.
The Fast Forward feature is built into the “Wallet” section of Amuse’s apps and lets eligible users browse and withdraw their advance against a small individual fee, which Amuse says is based on the structure of the offer.
According to the company’s website, eligibility is based on how much streaming data “Fast Forward has to work with”.
“Your music needs to be distributed by Amuse and have some consistent fan activity. With that said, Fast Forward is available to a much wider range of artists than a traditional advance would be,” writes Amuse on its website.
Offers are updated daily as new streaming data comes in, and now range from as low $50 up to $300,000. Advances are only ever paid back with future royalties which, Amuse states, means that “there’s no risk for the users”.
Amuse adds that “hundreds of artists have used Fast Forward” since its original launch in February 2019, citing Amuse artists such as American rapper Phora, Irish indie duo Blue Americans, and UK R&B artist Greg Wanders.
“Even though they’re the backbone of a release, collaborators like producers are often the last to get paid due to how the industry is structured.”
Diego Farias, Amuse
Diego Farias, CEO & Co-founder of Amuse, said: “We’re proud to introduce an even smoother version of Fast Forward, available to even more creatives.
“Even though they’re the backbone of a release, collaborators like producers are often the last to get paid due to how the industry is structured.
“We’re excited for how our Royalty Splits and Fast Forward cater to these users, making payouts and advances transparent and hassle-free.”
“Creating new ways for artists and their teams to get quicker access to earnings has been a priority for Amuse, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Erik Ljungqvist, Amuse
Erik Ljungqvist, Director of Product at Amuse, added: “Artists often have to wait for months to receive royalty payments from streaming services and music stores.
“Creating new ways for artists and their teams to get quicker access to earnings has been a priority for Amuse, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
MBW reported last month that Amuse’s revenues grew 209% in 2019, but the company posted an $11 million operating loss.Music Business Worldwide
