Universal Music Group and Deezer Implementing 'Artist-Centric' Streaming Payment Model

Universal Music Group and French streaming service Deezer have announced the launch of their "artist-centric" streaming model, which is an attempt to more fairly compensate all professional artists in regards to streaming.

What's the difference? The new model will give those professional artists - classified as those with at least 1,000 streams per month from a minimum of 500 unique listeners - a "double boost" to "more fairly reward them for the quality and engagement they bring to the platforms and fans." It's unclear what exactly this "double boost" is, but there will also be a double boost for "songs that fans actively engage with, reducing the economic influence of algorithmic programming."

The model is aimed at increasing artists' earnings and compensating them more than, say, white noise, or general noise audio such as sounds of water running that is not difficult to create and upload but still earns royalties. Deezer is expected to adopt the artist-centric model in France during Q4 with additional markets to follow.

What they're saying: “This is the most ambitious change to the economic model since the creation of music streaming and a change that will support the creation of high-quality content in the years to come,” said Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Deezer. “At Deezer we always put music first, providing a high-quality experience for fans and championing fairness in the industry. We are now embracing a necessary change, to better reflect the value of each piece of content and eliminate all wrong incentives, to protect and support artists. There is no other industry where all content is valued the same, and it should be obvious to everyone that the sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favourite artist streamed in HiFi.”