Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 5
Second Report - Economics of music streaming
Published 15 Jul 2021
Paragraph 76
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Economics of music streaming All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The right to equitable remuneration is a simple yet effective solution to the problems caused by poor remuneration from music streaming. It is a right that is already established within UK law and has been applied to streaming elsewhere in the world. A clear solution would therefore be to apply the right to equitable remuneration to the making available right in a similar way to the rental right. As such, an additive ‘digital music remuneration’ payment would be made to performers through their collecting societies when their music is streamed or downloaded. This digital music remuneration would address the issues of long-term sustainability for professional performers and the cannibalisation of other forms of music consumption where equitable remuneration applies, whilst also retaining the benefits of direct licensing.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Second Report - Economics of music streaming (HC 50), paragraph 76, 15 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 September 2021 (deadline 15 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report but says "more targeted research and evidence is needed" before it decides action on some issues, and sets out a work programme of contact and working groups and research, with a review in spring 2022.
- On equitable remuneration and new creator rights, the Government says impacts are "difficult to predict" and will assess models, "including through potential legislation", with an update expected in spring 2022.
- On transparency, the Government's view is that the industry "can, and should, seek to fix itself"; an industry-led working group is to report after 6 months, and it "will consider whether legislative intervention is warranted" if the outcome is unsatisfactory.
- It will not take forward the recommendations on publishing royalty chain information or on black box revenues, giving feasibility and existing regulation as its reasons. It also "disagrees" with the recommendation on the Music Export Growth Scheme and a fiscal incentive.
- On the market study, it notes the Committee's concerns and says it is "for the CMA to decide" how to use its resources, while having written to the CMA. It will legislate on the Digital Markets Unit "as soon as Parliamentary time allows".