Open letter to streaming giants: Acknowledge independent music and keep music diversity

The global independent market share of music streaming is just under 20 percent (2017)[i]. A new study shows that 69 percent of independent music creators think that today’s playlist culture favors mainstream music rather than independent artists and 34 percent are worried about being forced into a mold in order to succeed. To raise awareness around the struggle independents face in the streaming era, and its potential effect on music diversity, Record Union is publishing an open letter to Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube. The letter asks the companies to acknowledge independent music by integrating a tag for independent content in their streaming services.

In 2017, barely 20 percent of the global revenues from streaming went to the independent music sector and the remaining 80 percent went to the major labels. 

- We believe that a stronger representation of independent music creators, whose creative freedom aren’t restricted by return on investment demands and the pursuit of “hits”, is needed to have a thriving music culture and climate. The fact that three companies control more than 80 percent of streaming is a threat to the power and diversity of music, says Johan Svanberg, CEO at Record Union.

In a recently conducted study comprising more than a thousand independent music creators, 74 percent say that playlist features are important to their careers, but only 22 percent say that it’s important to be signed by a major record label.

- The fact that artists today value playlist features more than major label backing, tells us how the power has shifted within the music industry and how Spotify and the other streaming services have become the new gatekeepers for independent music creators, says Johan Svanberg.

Fame and money don’t seem to be that important to the asked music creators in the study, but 77 percent say that it’s important to be recognized for their music.

- We’re writing an open letter to Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube asking them to acknowledge independent music by integrating a tag for independent content in their streaming services. Unless the big streaming services start to take this seriously and create better terms for independent music creators we believe that it could have negative effects on the diversity of music, says Johan Svanberg.

The independent report 2018: In October, Record Union has conducted a survey among 1191 customers, that have released at least one single, in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, The UK and The US. The result is presented in “The independent report 2018”.

The open letter: Asks Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube to acknowledge independent music by integrating a tag for independent content in their streaming services. The letter can be signed by music creators and consumers on independenttag.com between the 27^th of November and the 11^th of December 2018.

The independent tag: Independent music creators should have the ability to tag their music within the streaming services – just as they tag explicit content. It would help independent music creators to stand out in a crowd full of major label backed artists and it would also help consumers to actively listen to independent music by choice.

For more information, contact: Helena Aru, PR & Communications Manager
helena.aru@recordunion.com, +46 709 18 95 01

[i] https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/independents-ruled-global-market-share-in-2017-but-universal-was-king-of-streaming/