The Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), an organisation that represents the independent music sector, has launched a Fair Digital Deals Declaration.
Launched this month as the ‘Worldwide Declaration Signing Day’, more than 700 independent labels have signed the statement, including seven Australian independent labels. View the full list here.
The statement was created in direct response to Youtube’s non-negotiable licensing contract terms for its upcoming subscription service.
Five pledges have been outlined in the statement include:
1) We will ensure that artists’ share of download and streaming revenues is clearly explained in recording agreements and royalty statements in reasonable summary form.
2) We will account to artists a good-faith pro-rata share of any revenues and other compensation from digital servicesthat stem from the monetisation of recordings but are not attributed to specific recordings or performances.
3) We will encourage better standards of information from digital services on the usage and monetisation of music.
4) We will support artists who choose to oppose, including publicly, unauthorized uses of their music.
5) We will support the collective position of the global independent record company sector as outlined in the Global Independent Manifesto.
Alison Wenham, Chairman of WIN said in a statement: “A healthy commercial relationship based on mutual trust and partnership between artists and labels is critical to the long term financial health of our industry. We believe that this new initiative, which seeks to put in place simple, fair and transparent guidelines for labels dealing with third partydigital partners is a template for best practice. We invite companies – majors and indies – to join the hundreds of companies who have already signed and put a stop to the practise of diverting revenues from the artists without whom we would not have a business.”