Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 11
Second Report - Economics of music streaming
Published 15 Jul 2021
Paragraph 122
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 Government must make sure that UK law is not enabling the outcome of market dominance. This means that independent labels must be supported to challenge the majors’ dominance and creators must be empowered to offset the disparity in negotiating power when signing with music companies. The Government should expand support for the Music Export Growth Scheme to allow British music companies to compete with the multinational majors and provide the resources needed for them to survive and thrive in export markets. This scheme must be appropriately targeted at independent British companies. To prevent the further acquisition of successful rights by the majors and ensure greater competition, the Government and BPI should also place clauses in grant funding awards that a company or artists’ rights cannot be acquired by the major music companies for a certain period of time. Moreover, the Government should bring forward proposals for a focused fiscal incentive for the independent music sector, similar to that which exists in TV, animation, film, theatre and gaming.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Second Report - Economics of music streaming (HC 50), paragraph 122, 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".