upstreaming

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of upstream.

   The indie label is upstreaming three of its breakout artists to its major-label partner.

   Upstreaming successful acts sits at the heart of the partnership agreement.

   Note

   Two quite different verbs share this -ing form. Used intransitively, it means streaming upward. Used transitively, it belongs to software, where developers speak of upstreaming a patch or library, meaning getting the original project to accept and maintain it. As a gerund it can still take an object (upstreaming the fix took months). That sets it apart from the record-label noun, which names an arrangement.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   An arrangement between an independent record label and a major label under which acts who succeed on the indie label are transferred up to the major.

   Like a minor-league club promoting its standout player to the majors once he proves himself.

   Through upstreaming, the indie label passed its breakout act to its corporate partner once sales took off.

   The contract's upstreaming clause gave the major label first claim on any artist who charted.

   Note

   The name is a picture borrowed from rivers. It is built from upstream plus -ing, and it imagines an act carried against the current, from a small independent label up to the major above it. Because it is a mass noun, it names the arrangement itself. You talk about upstreaming, or about an upstreaming deal or clause, but not about "an upstreaming."

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