Universal Music Group & Deezer join forces to increase artists' revenues.
A big check is (yet) to come — while eliminating “noise audio.”
Why the current music streaming model is not working?
As stated in “How much do artists earn for 1M streams on Spotify”, the musical streaming industry (and the streaming industry in general) is not very generous with artists despite accumulating a solid number of views/plays/streams.
The UK government has been investigating the music industry since 2019 with a working group, specifically looking at how artists are compensated.
In 2021, it was identified that there is an “imbalance” in royalties. It came after creators said they were not receiving their fair share of royalties when their tracks were played on streaming services, with payments differing depending on how the music was streamed or artists’ individual agreements with labels or distributors.
Based on this statement and two years after much consideration, two major music distributors recently decided to address the issue at its core:
On the 6th of September 2023, Universal (the world leader in the music industry) and Deezer (the 7th-largest streaming service globally and #1 in France and several other countries) announced a joint project to increase artists' earnings, disrupting the economic model of music consumption online.
The aim is to fairly reward artists for the quality and engagement they bring to the fans, and create a higher engagement rate:
“This is the most ambitious change to the economic model since the creation of music streaming and a change that will support the creation of high-quality content in the years to come.” - Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Deezer.
The move could have a significant impact on the music industry, particularly if major streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music adjust their own models.
What are the changes?
From now on, on Deezer, songs from professional artists will be paid double. Based on “THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE ARTIST-CENTRIC MUSIC STREAMING MODEL” published by Universal, this new “artist-centric” model includes:
- Deezer will attribute a double boost to what they define as “professional artists” — those who have a minimum of 1,000 streams per month by a minimum of 500 unique listeners. For instance: if you search for a specific song from the search bar, then the payment will be doubled again.
- Demonetizing non-artist noise audio — Deezer is planning to replace non-artist noise content with its own content in the functional music space, and this won’t be included in the royalty pool .
- Tackling fraud — continuing to drive an updated, and stricter, proprietary fraud detection system, removing incentives for bad actors, and protecting streaming royalties for artists.
Note that songs appearing in the algorithmic playlists will also generate less money than those selected by users.
This new model will be launched in France in the fourth quarter of 2023, with additional markets to follow.
Increasing genuine engagement & removing the “noise”.
The ‘modern’ battle is to quickly grab attention and drive engagement — in and out of the platforms — even if the user’s behaviour actually doesn’t align with these business goals.
In fact, Deezer’s data shows that “only 2% of all uploaders — are artists attracting a consistent fanbase.”, meaning that 98% of the uploaders share “false” music with hours of white noise and other fixed frequencies, generated by algorithms and artificial intelligence.
E.g.: recordings of water running or crickets chirping — that were created with minimal creative effort yet still earn royalties.
The over-saturated streaming model has to be “re-imagined” to encourage “meaningful engagement” between listeners and artists.
“At Deezer we always put music first, providing a high-quality experience for fans and championing fairness in the industry. […] There is no other industry where all content is valued the same, and it should be obvious to everyone that the sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favourite artist streamed in HiFi.” Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Deezer.
[continue reading the article on Break On Through]
Musically yours.
