As the internet grows and the music industry landscape continues to morph, artists are finding newer ways to generate income without the help of a major label. According The New York Times, the folks at Spotify are helping some of them along the way.

In a piece the outlet published Thursday (Sept. 6), The Times reported that Spotify has been making licensing deals with independent artists. Their sources say the streaming giant has made deals with independent artists and their management firms instead of labels.

Although the deals don't resemble the seven-figure contracts offered by majors—The Times says the advance deals they looked into were worth "advance payments of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars"— the licensing agreements give artists a larger portion of money earned from the streaming platform than an artist usually would from a record label, which The Times say usually take 52 percent of streaming revenue for songs.

In an additional advantage, Spotify's licensing deals are put in place without independent artists having to forfeit the rights to their songs. Because of that, and the fact that Spotify doesn't prohibit them from licensing their tracks with rival streaming platforms, artists can potentially earn more money than they would at a major without having to deal with the strings that typically come with major record deals.

While these licensing deals look like they could be advantageous for artists, The Times' sources say "the big record companies see the Spotify initiative as a potential threat."

Check out the rest of the report at The New York Times.

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