Received from: MU
Streaming is a phenomenal success and record labels are reporting record profits from it. But, at the moment, it’s not sufficiently benefiting musicians and songwriters themselves at what is an incredibly difficult time for them.
The Keep Music Alive campaign aims to ‘fix streaming’. As a first step, we are urging government to undertake a review of streaming to ensure that the music ecosystem is transparent and fair.
Most musicians earn a very low royalty on streaming due to their contract with their record label. If streaming was dealt with as radio is, the majority of musicians would earn more from it. Streaming services are, essentially, a sophisticated version of radio.
Consumers using Spotify to stream a track do not feel they are purchasing the music they listen to in the way they do when downloading from iTunes. The most popular services on Spotify are the curated playlists where the listener chooses, for example, ‘modern country’ or ‘heavy metal’ and a selection of music is then streamed to their device just like radio.
Without changes to the rights management regime and/or adjustment to existing contracts, the majority of performers will never earn more than a pittance from streaming.
Congress calls on the TUC to support the Keep Music Alive campaign.
Musicians’ Union