UK Government Publishes Music Streaming Findings

The UK government has published its findings on music streaming in the UK to ensure renumeration fairness. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) examined the distribution of revenue across the music streaming market for artists and songwriters who are not making money from digital music.

The issue with music streaming

The area of digital music streaming has been one of “figuring it out as we go”, which has meant that because of it being a relatively new area, the laws, regulations, and ethics have been created in real-time. The present (and ongoing) situation has meant that the bulk of revenue from streams is given to the platforms as opposed to the musicians and rights holders of the actual music.

There have been several notable campaigns and investigations into this issue, with many big-name American musicians taking the problem to congress in order to highlight awareness and address it. In the UK, the #FixStreaming campaign has gathered momentum, leading to the DCMS to investigate. Their current update summarises:

“In July 2021, we published our Report into the Economics of music streaming, which called for a “complete reset” of the streaming market. In its Response, the Government described our Report as “a key moment for the music industry”. It set out a series of workstreams with the aims of addressing the key issues that our inquiry highlighted.

On 15 November 2022, we held an oral evidence session to discuss the reset of streaming recommended in our July 2021 Report. This Report provides an overview of the work undertaken by Government, arm’s length bodies and the industry to date. It has two main recommendations:

• The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) needs to provide more transparency with its working groups, which should also consider, and give greater focus to, remuneration and rights revocation. To address all these issues effectively more departmental and ministerial representation is needed from the Government; and
• The Government should take a more proactive strategic role when it comes to cultural policy, including regarding music, to ensure it takes a cohesive approach across all departments in supporting cultural production and the creative industries A new wide ranging national strategy for music should be developed by the DCMS Department including an assessment of the impact of digital technology on musicians, songwriters and composers, and on the UK music industry’s potential for future growth.

We will keep this work under review and will continue to monitor economic and technological challenges and disruptions to the music streaming market as they emerge.”

What happens next?

While the report acknowledges there are very large issues, time will tell just how actionable these recommendations are, and what this “new wide ranging national strategy developed by the DCMS” might look like. Although the report is certainly a positive development in the right direction, a project of considerable size such as this will also require considerable time to be setup, tested, and approved. With arts cuts and a cost-of-living crisis in the UK at the time of writing, it remains to be seen just how many musicians will still be creating music on streaming platforms when this may come to fruition.

Acknowledging the current dire situation while maintaining a sense of optimism for the future, Acting Chair of the DCMS Damian Green said:

“Over the last 18 months the Government has made some welcome moves towards restoring a proper balance in the music industry, but there is still much more to do to ensure the talent behind the music is properly rewarded. As the Committee heard, there is still frustration about the returns for the vast majority of musicians and songwriters. Too many of them receive pitiful returns despite making successful music. The main players need to get together to remedy this in a sustainable way.

The world of music streaming is highly susceptible to changes in digital technology and the Government needs to make sure it is ahead of the game by taking a more strategic role in coordinating policy across departments. The Government described our initial report as a ‘key moment for the music industry’. It now needs to make sure it follows through on the work done so far to fix the fundamental flaws in the market. British music is a huge national asset and is loved around the world. British musicians and songwriters need to share in this success.”

Read the full DCMS report

Also by Michelle Sciarrotta: