More Australian Indie Labels Sign Up For ‘Fair Go’ Declaration

Australian independent labels including Future Classic, We Are Unified  the Mushroom Group, Inertia, Rice Is Nice, Elefant Traks and MGM have signed up to a global declaration demanding a ‘fair go’ for indies regarding digital deals.

The Worldwide Independent Network’s [WIN] Fair Digital Deals Declaration (read it here) was set up last week in response the YouTube’s highly controversial ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ negotiations regarding their new streaming service. Over 900 companies from around the world have now signed up to ensure that digital download and streaming revenues are clear and proper for indie labels and artists.

"Hopefully this keeps all the bastards honest"

— Rice Is Nice

“This declaration is about independent labels stating loud and clear that it is important that Artists are paid fairly and transparently under these complicated deals,” Mushroom Group’s Warren Costello told theMusic.com.au. Managing Director of the Group’s Liberation Records, Mushroom is home to I Oh You, Ivy League and PIAS.

“One clear benefit for artists is that the label signatories need to ensure that their artists receive a share of any income paid on an entire catalogue basis, which in the past some Labels may have kept to themselves,” he added.

Rice Is Nice owner Julia Wilson said her motivation to sign the declaration was “to encourage these kinds of standards within our industry. Rice Is Nice's model revolves around transparency, that's why we began the label so anything Rice Is Nice can do to help it's artists receive clear, fair, transparent communication regarding their copyright and art is a huge priority.

“My hopes for the deal stretch beyond my roster as I hope to begin to see a stronger and higher benchmark for independent artists and the financial value of their art and music. It's frustrating when you see people in your own industry undercutting the value of our artists, so hopefully this keeps all the bastards honest.”

"The majors seek to bury their obligations to repatriate funds to their artists"  — AIR

Chairman of the Australian Independent Record Labels Association [AIR] David Vodicka said that in the current noise of legal streaming services transparency has been lost.

“Increasingly, the majors seek to bury their obligations to repatriate funds to their artists, without whom they would have no business,” he said. “This isn’t a path that the independents seek to endorse and in fact see it as a great opportunity in promoting this attitude as a key selling point to working with independent record labels.”

Aussie companies who have signed the declaration:

ABC Music
Cooking Vinyl
Future Classics
Head Records
Hub Artist Services
Inertia
MGM
Mushroom Group
Obese Records
Odessa Mama Music
One Music
Pieater
Public Opinion Music
Resist Records
Remote Control Records
Rhythm Safari
Rice is Nice
Rocket Distro
Social Family Records
Sound Of Melbourne Records
The Orchard
Undercover Music
Underfoot Records
Voice Kontrol
We Are Unified

The full international list is here.

Additional reporting by Mitch Knox