Following Warner and Sony‘s decision to share revenue from equity stakes in streaming services with its artists, the UK’s Music Managers Forum has called for Universal to make the same pledge.
The MMF represents members including IE Management (Robbie Williams, Passenger), Everybody’s (Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling), ATC/Courtyard (Radiohead, Laura Mvula), Rocket Music (Elton John, Ed Sheeran) and Wildlife (Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood).
Yesterday morning in New York, Warner Music Group CEO Stephen Cooper told Wall Street that, in the event that the company does receive cash proceeds from the sale of its equity stakes in streaming services, it will share the revenue with its artists on the same basis that it shares revenue from actual usage and digital breakage.
Sony Music made the same promise just hours later.
“This is a positive development. We call on universal to follow suit.”
Annabella Coldrick, MMF (Pictured)
So far, UMG has given MBW a ‘no comment’ on the subject, but as soon as that changes (if it changes), we’ll let you know.
Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive of the MMF said: “Record companies taking an equity stake in streaming services has become increasingly prevalent and it is essential artists see the value as well. Warner and Sony are demonstrating industry leadership and aligning their interests with artists by committing to share proceeds from the sale of Spotify shares.
“This is a positive development for the long-term health of the industry. We call upon Universal to follow suit.”
Coldrick encouraged those interested in the issue to read the MMF’s Dissecting The Digital Dollar report, which sets out to explain how streaming services are licensed and how digital income is shared between each stakeholder in the wider music community.Music Business Worldwide
