Apple Music sign deals with The Beggars Group, Merlin and PIAS

Beggars Group boss Martin Mills has announced that they have reached an agreement with Apple Music to pay artists and writers during the service’s three-month free trial period.

Since Apple Music announced that they would not pay rights holders, the company has received heavy criticism from industry figures, including the Beggars Group, who posted their concerns last week. The Beggars Group includes indie labels such as Rough Trade Records, XL, 4AD and Matador. This past Monday, Apple Music dramatically changed their plans for the service, responding to an open letter written by Taylor Swift, which she posted over the weekend.

Beggars Group founder Martin Mills released a statement through the Worldwide Independent Network saying:

“Over the last few days we have had increasingly fruitful discussions with Apple. We are now delighted to sat that we are happy to endorse the deal with Apple Music as it now stands, and look forward to being a big part of a very exciting future.”

The independent digital rights organisation Merlin has also written to their members with an update on their negotiations with Apple Music. Merlin CEO Charles Caldas says:

“I am pleased to say that Apple has made a decision to pay for all usage of Apple Music under the free trials on a per-play basis, as well as to modify a number of other terms that members had been communicating directly with Apple about. With these changes, we are happy to support the deal.”

PIAS has also shared a statement urging labels to embrace the service which launches on 30th June. Managing Director Adrian Pop has this to say:

“Over the last three weeks or so we and others have worked hard to secured a range of significant benefits, protections and improvements on the originally proposed terms. A key point of improvement is that we will now receive a per stream payment from day 1 of any free trial period. Other controls and protections have been added such that we feel this is a genuinely good deal for the labels and artists we represent. It should be noted that [PIAS] made it contingent that in us approving this agreement the same terms would be made available to all 4000+ independent labels, thus providing a fair playing field for all… Our recommendation to labels is that we now embrace the service.”