Apple Music received another pair of endorsements from the independent labels sector yesterday, but it has more work to do to bring indie publishers on board. US labels body A2IM mirrored the praise of WIN and Merlin in a statement: “We thank Apple Music for hearing our concerns and for their fair and equitable treatment of the worldwide music creator community,” it claimed. “We look forward to our community working with Apple to make the launch of Apple Music a success.”
Impala boss Helen Smith also welcomed Apple’s change of heart on trial royalties, saying that it set “a great precedent in any sector on the benefits of working together and taking a stance to achieve a fair result”. And indie publishers? In the US, at least, they remain concerned about one of Apple’s licensing terms, according to Billboard. It cites a clause “that gives Apple a two-year, 50 percent discount off of the contract’s minimum rates if its streaming service is bundled with a mobile carrier’s phone plan”, as well as plans for routing cloud-locker royalties through labels to publishers rather than through collecting societies.
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