Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 5
5
The right to equitable remuneration is a simple yet effective solution to the problems caused...
Conclusion
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. (Paragraph 76) 104 Economics of music streaming
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The Government notes the evidence presented to the Committee that the contractual arrangements between performers, labels and platforms appear to disadvantage some players in the streaming environment. This is corroborated by the Creators’ Earnings research. It highlights the complexity of artists’ remuneration, which is compounded by a lack of transparency. It shows that earnings from streaming are distributed unevenly, with the largest share going to recording rightsholders, and the most popular artists receiving a much greater share of streaming revenue than lesser-known artists. Many music creators believe these revenue shares are unfair, and that the proportion being paid to them should increase. Our research suggests that a sustained achievement of around 1 million UK streams per month may be a minimum threshold for making a sustainable living out of music (alongside other sources of income). However, as the research notes, rewards in the music industry have long been skewed towards the most popular artists. Record companies justify their earnings based on their investment in the industry, including the significant risks they take on when signing new talent. The Committee recommends legislation on equitable remuneration to improve performers’ income. Many testimonies to the inquiry noted that this type of change might not be in the interests of all performers and could result in lower revenues for some. For example, some featured artists may receive better revenue under the current arrangement than they might under an equitable remuneration right. This suggests that changes could have significant impacts which are difficult to predict and must be investigated and better understood. This is a complex area and the Government takes the concerns of music creators seriously. This is why we are launching work to better understand issues of fairness in creator and performer remuneration. As part of this work the Government will assess different models, such as equitable remuneration and the artist growth model, to explore how they are likely