In the wake of Taylor Swift convincing Apple to dole out royalty payments during Apple Music’s three-month trial period, Apple has been quick to leverage the accompanying good will and sign crucial deals with two massive music rights organizations, Beggars Group and Merlin Network.
According to Billboard, Merlin alone represents over 20,000 labels and distributors across the globe. Together, both groups oversee members who own the musical rights to a vast number of big name artists, including Adele, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Neko Case, The Strokes, Social Distortion, The National, Tom Waits, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, DJ Khaled, and Martin Solveig & Dragonette.
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Billboard managed to get its hands on a letter that Merlin CEO Charles Caldas wrote to its members. It reads in part:
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.
The report further underscores the importance of Apple striking a deal with Beggars, a group that it notes is “the unofficial standard-bearer for the indie community.”
Strangely enough, Taylor Swift’s open letter to Apple, in just one week’s time, has already had far reaching effects on the impending rollout of Apple Music. Not only will artists now get paid during the service’s three-month trial period, but Apple has now bolstered its Apple Music library quite substantially.
Now, the only question is whether or not consumers will flock to Apple Music in droves. As we reported not too long ago, Apple is ultimately hoping to sign up 100 million subscribers to its budding music service.
