Credits Due: The Music Royalties Campaign From Bjorn Ulvaeus

Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA has launched a new royalties campaign called Credits Due that ensures musicians are properly named and compensated for their work on released music. The need for the campaign has become ever more apparent in the digital streaming age of music, due to missing information about creators that results in roughly £500 million globally in lost revenue that is unable to be distributed to writers and performers.

Credits Due – the concept

The campaign aims to accurately document the names of every person who contributes to the creation of a song, in the way of creating “clickable digital liner notes” which would mean there is a place to see all of the records musicians have made. While companies like Discogs and the performing rights societies around the world work to accurately document the contributors of performing and mechanical rights of recorded music, the metadata attached to song files is often missing crucial information, incorrectly registered, or wrongly attributed with inconsistencies from one society to the other. Often writers and performers are left to upload their details individually and attempt to claim rights and royalties.

What is metadata?

Metadata is digital information that is attached to a file, so for a recorded piece of music this would include: the song title, the performing artists, all songwriter and composer names, publishers and labels if applicable, and the producers and engineers who created the track, as well as any additional contributors who need to be credited such as the owners/creators of any music samples used.

Credits Due – the solution

Bjorn Ulvaeus is calling for a new system that synchronises this information correctly, which is no mean feat – 60,000 songs are released daily on Spotify alone. Speaking to the BBC, Bjorn explained:

“We want to get back to that experience we had when we opened a double-sleeved LP and listened to the songs while reading the liner notes. I think that’s a very valuable experience that young listeners today are missing. Every new person that walks into the recording studio will be registered. So, even in a symphony orchestra, every member will be clickable.”

The ABBA star announced the launch of Credits Due at the Ivor Novello Awards in London on 21^st September, as The Ivors Academy for songwriters and The Music Rights Awareness Foundation are both collaborators on the campaign. The plan is to create an app that ensures “songwriters, producers and record labels gather all the necessary data before a song is released.”

Reception and action plan for the Credits Due campaign

The scheme has been welcomed widely since the announcement, which gathered much support from the songwriters and musicians who were present at the Ivor Novello Awards ceremony, as well as those who have backed the news since then – there is undoubtedly widespread agreement that the omission of creators behind the scenes is an ongoing problem that needs to be corrected.

At the time of writing, international music company BMG has pledged its support for the Credits Due campaign, and the hope is that more of the big companies will get on board with the system so that artists can be properly credited and compensated for the work that they do.

The timing of the Credits Due campaign has been all the more impressive as Bjorn Ulvaeus is currently in rehearsals for a new AI inspired reunion concert series with ABBA, as well as preparing for the release of new material as previously reported by TheatreArtLife. The musician is certainly embracing the developments in technology for the greater good of the music community, and pushing the boundaries of how the digital world can be used to benefit those who contribute to it.

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