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. Company reveals new website to champion a user-centric payment system
· Premium subscribers can use tool to see how their subscription payments would support the artists they love
Johannesburg, 11 September 2019: Deezer, the global music streaming service, has launched a new online initiative to help music fans understand how a user-centric system for music payments would make the industry fairer for artists all over the world.
The initiative is centered around a new website that explains the benefits of a fairer user-centric approach to distributing streaming royalties, compared to the market share-based way the industry is using today.
Deezer is encouraging music fans to explore the site, learn how a user-centric payment system (‘UCPS’) benefits artists and genres and helps by spreading awareness of UCPS on social media through the use of the #MakeStreamingFairhashtag.
Premium subscribers can also use a tool on the website to see and share exactly how much of their subscription revenues today go to artists they listen to, as well as how they would be supporting their favourite artists if UCPS was in place.
Alexander Holland, Chief Content and Strategy Officer at Deezer commented: “Streaming has been the main innovation driver in the music industry for many years now. Digital technologies and data make it easier than ever to make sure that all artists and content creations have a fair playing field. A user-centric approach is the next logical step and would mean that fans directly support the acts they love. Getting rid of bot fraud is a welcome added bonus and would make sure that your subscription money goes where it’s supposed to – the acts you love.”
Deezer’s UCPS website is available from today and can be found here.
For further information, please contact Anton Gourman, Global Director of Communications at agourman@deezer.com
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Notes to editors:
UCPS is based on the principle that the revenues that streaming fans generate for rights holders and artists should only go to the acts that each user listens to. Today, the streaming industry still uses an outdated market share model based on overall market share to calculate payments, which means that some popular artists and genres get a disproportionate amount of money compared to smaller, local and more niche acts and genres.
The current system can also be manipulated by bot accounts. These accounts fraudulently skew market share and payments by disproportionately playing to certain tracks over and over again. While the music streaming industry has taken a number of important steps to minimise fraud, a User Centric Payment System would make streaming fraud a thing of the past, as bot activity would only distribute the revenues from that particular bot account.