Of late Amazon has been following in the steps of Spotify and dropping a series of exclusive recordings by noted artists like John Prine and Margo Price under the title “Produced By…”, and although these recordings fall under the Amazon Originals banner, Amazon doesn’t actually own the rights to them.
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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0
Amazon Music has introduced a new series of exclusive recordings called “Produced By…” with the first batch coming from Grammy-winning artists that include Al Green, John Prine and Margo Price. The twist is that Amazon doesn’t actually own these recordings, as the original label retains all the rights.
The premise of the “Produced By..” series is that it will pair a producer with a known artist, with the first batch coming from Memphis-based producer Matt Ross-Spang. Future recordings in the series will feature a host of other producers across different genres, although none have been announced yet. The recordings were done at the famous Sun Records Studios in Memphis.
Produced By… is falling under the Amazon Originals banner, which features a host of new music done exclusively for the company.
What this means is that Amazon is joining Spotify with an exclusive series of music, but is being very careful not to step on any label toes by not owning the content. That way, it stays out of with the labels, which would probably mean the termination of all licensing deals the next time license negotiations come around.
This is helpful to all concerned however, as the labels and the artists get a piece of product without having to pay for it or market it, and Amazon gets another product to offer that helps differential Amazon Music from the other streaming platforms.
It would be interesting to see just how much Amazon Originals are being streamed, but the company doesn’t disclose that information. That being said, it’s great that it gives artists a chance to record something new when there might not have been any possibility of it previously.
Let’s keep an eye on this to see how it propers, and if it becomes more acceptable for more popular artists as well.