Photo credit: David Shankbone / CC from 3.0
Justin Tranter’s Facet Records has announced that it will be the first record label to give songwriters master points as a standard.
The announcement sees Facet redistribute three credits from the company’s own share on each master to songwriters who aren’t the artists or producers. According to Facet, the rise of digital streaming has failed songwriters while everyone else in the equation has adapted. Unless they contribute to a radio hit, songwriters across the board have struggled to get fair pay in recent years.
Facet’s unprecedented initiative is the first step in giving songwriters a seat at the table when it comes to streaming royalties in the modern era, and a long-overdue restructuring designed to spur similar action across the industry. Facet Records and Facet Publishing were officially incorporated in 2020 in West Hollywood, California. It has become a platform for groundbreaking artists to express themselves and make their voices heard.
Justin Tranter is one of the most in-demand songwriters and producers in the music industry today. He is an ACLU Bill of Rights Award-winning activist with over 50 million singles sold, 50 billion streams on Spotify and YouTube alone, and several Diamond-winning songs under his belt. Tranter has collaborated with Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Halsey, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Janelle Monae, King Princes, Leon Bridges and many more.
Tranter now serves as Executive Music Producer and Songwriter for Paramount+’s new Grease prequel series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, and has shaped the musical identity for a number of film and television ventures in recent years, beginning with Billy Porters Directorial debut “Anything’s”. “Possibly” to Hulu’s record-breaking “Happiest Season,” Netflix’s “Purple Hearts,” and more.
Facet Records is home to emerging talent like Jake Wesley Rogers, Shawn Wasabi, Shea Diamond and YDE. Tranter wants to give these songwriters a chance to see responsibility on the master side. The company’s publishing side is producing less than the master recording side and the decline in physical sales has hit songwriters hardest.