Frustrated by pirates, ECM releases its music to Spotify and other streaming services

The ECM label, long a holdout from music streaming services for aesthetic reasons, will make all of its remarkable catalog of jazz and classical recordings available on Spotify, Apple Music and other major streaming services by Friday.

ECM is doing so because it is weary of pirates and websites sharing its music illegally, the label announced in a statement to the press.

That means listeners will now able to legally stream essential recordings by Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich and other influential musicians and composers.

"In recent years, ECM and the musicians have had to face unauthorized streaming of recordings via video sharing sites, plus piracy, bootlegs, and a proliferation of illegal download sites. It was important to make the catalogue accessible within a framework where copyrights are respected," the label states.

Founded in 1969 by Manfred Eicher, who has personally produced many of the Munich-based label's recordings, ECM is noted for its serious approach to sound. "To its many admirers, ECM stands for a certain meditative, introspective approach to playing and listening," Richard Williams wrote in a profile of Eicher for The Guardian.

Among the thousand-plus it has released, notable ECM recordings include Jarrett's "Sun Bear Concerts," a 10-album set in its vinyl incarnation; Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians," the first recording of the composer's minimalist landmark; and Pärt's "Tabula Rasa," which inaugurated a close relationship between the Estonian composer and the label.

ECM signed a new digital distribution deal with Universal Music to make streaming possible. The label has not changed its opinion that CDs and vinyl albums are better ways to listen to music. But "the first priority is that the music should be heard," the label declared.