An artist-to-public music platform has finally reached a deal with a UK performing rights society after crossing many hurdles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35153169/soundcloud-reaches-agreement-with-prs-for-music-over-licensingPRS for Music will stop legal proceedings against SoundCloud after agreeing licensing for a new subscription service.
The agreement means artists will get paid for their music when SoundCloud launches subscription and advertising across Europe in 2016.
Robert Ashcroft, chief executive at PRS for Music, says they have been in discussions for more than five years. Musicians will now be "fairly rewarded" for use of their material, he says.
"SoundCloud is a platform by creators, for creators; we're working hard to create a platform where all creators can be paid for their work, and already have deals in place with thousands of copyright owners," says Alexander Ljung, founder and CEO of SoundCloud.
Earlier this year Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Music told its members it would pursue SoundCloud "through the courts" for unpaid royalties.
Soundcloud has in fact been working on a deal for some time until a recent threat of legal action from the performing rights society entered the game, the problem was soundcloud wasnt making any revenues and the artists themselves where placing their work on the soundcloud platform in most cases so in theory there was no case to answer regarding performing rights taxes, the real issue of contention was some artists using sound samples from the works of other major label artists, these obviously do have to be licenced and a good case could be made to turn this liability back on the artist who uploaded the new work however it seems soundcloud has been forced to head towards the time honoured revenue generation platform which will no doubt see many of the creative folks whom use it at the moment to release their works for free head to other places, for many of them its not all about making money and as we all know the PRS may say its collecting for the artists but the revenues collected have to be handed over to the record companies if the artist didnt recoup enough from the companies alleged initial investment in that artist or group, so we can transpose the words "paying the artist" for "paying the fat-cat cartel", lets at least be honest about that.
Another great site with many excellent musicians trashed and dumbed down to suit the recording industry money grabbers, nothing new then.
