Twitch
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via GILive streaming platform Twitch has entered into an agreement with digital music licensing service Merlin to create revenue-earning opportunities for independent artists.
Merlin represents more than 20,000 labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world, who can now interact with fans, generate earnings and build community on Twitch.
Similar to the recent agreements formed between Twitch and Universal Music and Warner Music’s recorded music divisions, the Merlin partnership is not a licensing deal.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Twitch for this groundbreaking deal,” said Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota in a release. “We’ve been engaged in conversations with Twitch since the day I started at Merlin, and I’m pleased that our team found a path for Merlin members and their artists to better engage fan communities across the Twitch ecosystem, whether in music, gaming or beyond. Merlin members are excited to lean into this opportunity on behalf of their artists.”
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, artists have leaned more on digital platforms to create additional revenue streams. The new partnership will create direct communications between Merlin members and Twitch in order to forge new marketing opportunities for labels and artists.
The agreement will help Merlin members tap into Twitch opportunities such as The Collective, an artist incubator program announced by the platform in November. The program assembles musicians into invite-only groups called collectives, which are designed to help artists learn how to use and maximize the platform, with support from Twitch staff and industry partners including Amazon Music, United Masters, DistroKid and TuneCore, among others.
Through the deal, Merlin members will also have access to a process introduced by Twitch in September that enables participating music rights holders to report certain unauthorized uses of their music.
“It really is an exciting time to be an independent artist,” said Twitch’s vp/head of music Tracy Chan in a release. “The relationship between fan and artist has been transformed, and we’re proud to offer a new pathway to success for so many artists. Our partnership with Merlin affords their members’ independent artists an on-ramp to our devoted and engaged Twitch community. We are grateful for the collaborative work of our colleagues at Merlin and know that, together, we can achieve great things for a sector of the music community that has never been more influential.”
The deal with Merlin is just the latest step in Twitch’s efforts to foster a collaborative relationship with the music industry. In addition to the agreements reached with UMG and WMG, Twitch reached a landmark settlement with the National Music Publishers’ Association in September 2021 over the platform’s past usage of music, developed a new process for music rights holders to report unauthorized use of their work on the platform and offered NMPA members an opt-in deal for licensing.
NEWS
Oliver Tree’s team has provided a new update following the singer’s death in a helicopter crash on June 14, confirming that a new artist grant will soon be established in his memory to help creatives secure funding, a plan he had detailed in his will before his passing.
Accompanying a collection of photos highlighting Tree’s performances, travels and creative work through the years, a post shared Sunday (June 21) on his Instagram account revealed that the musician’s remains have been brought back to California, the state he called home and where he will be laid to rest. “His legacy will live on through his foundation/endowment named ‘Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant For Baby Geniuses’ coming soon,” the caption reads. “This is something that Oliver had put together before his passing.”
“We will make sure his wish comes to fruition so that more joy, love and art can be spread into the world, that was his final wish,” the statement continued, adding that “the constant love, support and positivity” shown by fans throughout the past week has helped his “family, friends and collaborators make it through these extremely difficult times.”
Tree was among six people who lost their lives in a helicopter collision in Rio de Janeiro. The musician was in Brazil for his The World’s First Tour run and had performed what would ultimately be his final concert on June 6 in São Paulo. The other victims of the crash were identified as passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, along with pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
Just months before his death, Tree discussed his plans to direct his fortune and future earnings from his music toward a grant program for artists during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show. “I take no credit for anything I’ve ever done,” he said during the April interview. “Furthermore, I don’t believe that any of the wealth or things that get made from it is mine. So when I die … my will is set up so that when I pass, my family, nobody is going to get a penny.”
“If I have a wife or kids or anything, they’re not getting a penny,” he added at the time, explaining that the initiative would focus on helping artists create work rather than funding education. “I’ll get my kids through college, that’s the agreement, but there’s not gonna be a silver spoon. All the money is going to go back to artists.”
