John Washington III Tells Spotify His Answer Is a Big No: American King Records Will Not Give Up Its Masters

John Washington III has a direct answer for Spotify: no. As the owner of American King Records, John Washington III wrote that he has a serious problem with streaming platforms attempting to negotiate deals that allow other people to remix artists' music. "My answer is no! Absolutely not!" he wrote. "Spotify is a streaming platform. Spotify is not my record company!"

John Washington III argued that there is already a proper way to do that business. If another artist wants to remix, sample or commercially use one of the label's master recordings, he wrote, "you come to the record company" - contact American King Records, negotiate a licensing agreement, and discuss the upfront payment, royalties, ownership and terms of use. "That is how the music business works!" he wrote. He said he is not interested in handing over control of the label's master recordings in exchange for an undisclosed streaming royalty that might amount to fractions of a penny.

John Washington III framed the decision as a matter of ownership for independent artists and labels generally. "Your music is an asset. Your master recordings are property. Your rights have value!" he wrote, arguing that technology making a remix easier does not mean a label should surrender control over how its recordings are used. His closing position was a list: no unauthorized remixes of the label's masters, no third-party licensing of its masters without the label's approval, and no giving away control of its catalog for pennies. "Our music. Our masters. Our rights. Our decision," he wrote. "And my decision is a big, fat no!"