Fair Digital Deals

MEET THE NEW PLEDGE: Beggars Group chieftain Martin Mills signs the "Fair Digital Deals Declaration," a pledge to "treat artists fairly in agreements relating to digital exploitation of artists' work" on the signing day in London called by the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN). The declaration is intended to ensure "a good faith pro rata share" in downloading and streaming revenues, as well as transparency, anti-piracy measures and more; a number of leading indie labels, including Secretly Canadian, Hopeless and JagJaguwar, have posted online about inking the pledge. In a related story, an executive at a streaming-music service signed a pledge to pay $25k per month for his new Tesla. For more on Martin, see I.B. Bad's breakdown of the U.K. biz here. (7/17p)