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> I don't understand why a label wouldn't like this model...

It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? They’d make less money and they have a lot of leverage over Spotify to force it to accept pretty much whatever terms that benefits the big labels at the expense of indies.

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Interestingly this gives rise to a business opportunity for indies. Create an indie-only music service that doesn't include the big labels, and encourage indie lovers to use it on the basis that artists get more of their money that way. They should still be able to manage viable margins since they don't have to sink disprortionate royalties to the big labels.

The total amount of money going to artists doesn’t change in either system, the only change is with which artists get what fraction of the money paid.

Artists with larger fanbases will prefer the newer method, while smaller artists with dedicated followers would prefer the current method.

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