Startup Create/OS made a Record Deal Simulator, a fun little tool designed to show how record deals work. So, in a standard 20/80 royalty deal where 20% goes to the artist, and 80% to the label, with a $1 million budget - $400,000 advance, $200,000 in recording costs, and $400,000 for marketing -te artist would have to generate 1 billion streams before making the very first dollar in royalties. The label will have made $3 million in profits at that point.

Kanye West has uploaded photos of his recording and publishing deals to Twitter, and is demanding to be released from his contracts, Variety reports. "I need every lawyer in the world to look at these," he told his followers, while referring to the music industry as "modern-day slavery". West says he won't release new music until he is released from his deals. PDF document of the contracts - here.

Taylor Swift's old publisher Big Machine Records issued a statement saying it had agreed "to grant all licences of their artists' performances" for "the upcoming American Music Awards", in reaction to Swift's claim that her old record label had forbidden it. However, in the second half of their statement, Big Machine said "that recording artists […]