John Washington III Tells Spotify No: No Unauthorized Remixes of American King Records Masters

John Washington III is drawing a hard line on who controls the music his label owns. The owner of American King Records said his answer to streaming platforms seeking deals that would let other people remix his artists' music is, as he put it, a big no.

Spotify is a streaming platform, John Washington III wrote — Spotify is not his record company. He said he did not build his label, invest his money and develop his artists so that a streaming platform could negotiate how other people use the label's master recordings. Anyone who wants to remix, sample or commercially use one of those recordings, he wrote, should come to the record company, negotiate a licensing agreement and discuss the upfront payment, royalties, ownership and terms of use.

"Your music is an asset. Your master recordings are property. Your rights have value," John Washington III wrote. He said he is not interested in handing over control of the masters in exchange for an undisclosed streaming royalty that might amount to fractions of a penny, and he listed his terms plainly: no unauthorized remixes of the label's masters, no third-party licensing without the label's approval. "Our music. Our masters. Our rights. Our decision," he wrote.