Taylor Swift’s deal – good for all artists

It’s a good day for artists signed to Universal Music – thanks to Taylor Swift.

Swift signed a new deal with Universal that ensures artists will receive a share in Universal’s sale of its Spotify stock if it ever sells them. The magic is that the cash will go to the artist directly and not to any unrecouped balances first.

Swift also managed to retain ownership of her master recordings – a nod by the record company to artist power and the evolving role of label services which for Swift are marketing, distribution and collection over long term IP rights retention.

There was concern amongst music lawyers that the labels would:

• Share the proceedings as set out in an artists contract (if at all applicable); and
• The payout would first go to reducing an unrecouped balance.

It is encouraging to see that Umusic, like Sony, is acknowledging the artist’s role in increasing the value of the label’s equity in Spotify – and are willing to share it fairly.

Read more about it here: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-will-ignore-artists-unrecouped-balances-when-it-pays-out-spotify-share-money-thanks-to-taylor-swift/?fbclid=IwAR3BZxCT-dgLJrwCQVBlEIHLfgInYsQHBdUVw3uMqDnxSllMYcyW4bH8-QM