Hey YouTube! 750 indies have signed the Fair Digital Deals Declaration

The 32 pages long YouTube horror story

Some time ago I happened to read the long, horrible contract that YouTube asked indie labels to sign for launching their new premium streaming service. A copy of the leaked contract is here but I guess you won’t go far: their legal patois is unintelligible to a normal human being.

The contract is not only horrible to read: it is also greatly unfair toward indies. So indies promptly replied by taking off content from YouTube (Adele was said to be missing although I was much more concerned about XX and Anna Calvi).

Indies’ next bold move

Now it seems that indies have taken another move toward the Cupertino’s giant: more than 750 of them have signed the Fair Digital Deals Declaration (and notwithstanding the longish hashtag #fairdigitaldeal4artists, they quickly created a buzz on twitter), an initiative launched by the WIN- Worldwide independent network, that represents the interests of independent labels.

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Berklee Launches Independent Record Label

Students at Berklee College of Music can now learn the ins and outs of an independent record label through the college’s new label, Berklee Internet Radio Network Cooperative Records (birnCORE). birnCORE records some of today’s best independent artists who visit Berklee’s campus performance facilities, from the 200-seat Red Room @ Cafe 939 to the college’s state-of-the-art internet radio studio. Student engineers mix the albums to the artists’ specifications. Released digitally, birnCORE LPs are priced to sell at about $5.

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What Are The Vegas Odds Of Success On Today’s Major Label Record Deal?

It is a known fact that getting signed to a major record label doesn’t guarantee success for an artist, but the odds greater or lower vs. staying indie? Moses Avalon explores the “Vegas Odds” of the record deal.

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