The International Artist Organisation Comments On Sony-Spotify Leak

The International Artist Organisation welcomes this morning’s open letter from the  International Music Managers’ Forum, which highlighted a number of significant questions  raised by the leaked Sony-Spotify contract from 2011, which was published on  www.theverge.com The leaking of that document is a turning point for Artists that cannot be underestimated. The  recorded  music  industry,  as  any  other  content  industry,  lives  on  the  creativity  of  individuals and it is of the utmost importance – if we want to see a sustainable and healthy  content industry continue in Europe – to make sure that a fair share of the value created  finds its way back to those individuals.

Artists and their representatives have been fighting now for years to try to get information  on the deals done between platforms and phonographic producers (labels) so that they in  turn can negotiate for a ‘fair share’ of the value their work generates. The recorded music industry is not buy-sell like supermarkets who buy products from  suppliers and sell them in turn to customers, keeping the margin.  Instead, Creators  generally receive a royalty which is supposed to reflect a share of the value generated  from the commercial exploitation of their work.

In most cases that royalty, along with an advance, is accepted in exchange for an  exclusive assignment of copyright which leaves the Artist wholly dependent on the label to  act in their best interests. However, whereas Managers, for example, have a fiduciary duty of care to their artists,  labels do not. Labels are only required to fulfil the duty to the Artist laid out in the contract that they sign  and that contract is subject to negotiation between two parties with vastly mismatched  bargaining power.

Read the whole letter here

Source: International Artist Organisation