Beats Music reveals deal with Merlin, will give independent labels same royalty rate as majors

Beats Music is coming at the world aggressively, as it has done with every other Beats product. Not only have the sales of Beats headphones and "pill" speaker boxes increased thanks to the company's commercials, but the music used within the commercials has seen huge jumps in downloads as well. Advertising professionals might refer to these results as Beats "knowing what they're doing." It stands to reason that the company is being smart with the contract it just hashed out with British licensing group Merlin.

Merlin features 20,000 members from numerous independent labels, including the "major" indies such as Epitaph and Merge. Beats Music's major claim is that it can find better music to suit your mood than its competitors. We're in agreement that finding music to suit your mood is a lot easier when you have a bigger pool to draw from, including bands you've never heard of.

That's the benefit for Beats, but how about for the musicians? Why should they support Beats Music when so many have loathed other streaming services such as Spotify?

For one, both companies have confirmed that Merlin's representatives will receive the same royalty rate as major label musicians. What that rate might be wasn't revealed, but the fact that Beats is willing to offer a small artist just as much as a huge artist is a huge step forward. Add that to the fact Beats Music makes it more likely a small artist will be heard (as the program recommends tracks to listeners), and musicians now have a multitude of reasons to throw support behind Beats. And when a musician supports a cause, fans are likely follow.