Apple Music will be launched in Romania and it seems that Apple managed to attract these days over 20.000 independent record companies willing to offer their music for the new audio streaming service dedicated to iOS.
Although last weeks the independent record companies did not want to become partners Apple Music because Apple did not pay any money to the artists during the 3-month period in which the service was offered for free, the change in attitude imposed by Taylor Swift convinced these record companies to sign with Apple.
The Apple company concluded partnership contracts with Beggars Group and Merlin, these two representing over 20.000 independent record companies, they recommend their partners to participate in Apple Music thanks to the new terms offered.
Although the people from Merlin also represent the famous singer Adele, it seems that she alone will make the decision to participate or not in Apple Music, so it remains to be seen if Apple will manage to convince her to offer her music loved by dozens millions of people.
Apple Music, the hardware giant's soon-to-launch streaming service, has landed an eleventh-hour coup, striking deals with the independents' digital rights organization Merlin and with Martin Mills' indie powerhouse Beggars Group, sources tell Billboard. The announcement comes on the heels of the company's 180-degree turn on a deal term asking labels to forego royalty payments during a 90-day-free trial offered to Apple Music users.
Beggars refused to sign collaboration contracts with Apple Music in the past due to the fact that the artists were not paid for 3 months, but although even now they will not receive the full percentage of Apple's receipts, they still decided to participate in the system.
By attracting such a large number of independent labels, Apple finally has a music library comparable to that offered by its competitors, so it will be much easier to attract iDevice owners willing to test Apple Music.
