Ed Sheeran is currently the most-streamed artist in the UK, with his comeback single Bad Habits
A committee of MPs has revealed that many top artists have spoken up against the pitiful streaming returns. Now, they want a ‘complete reset’ where musicians will be given a fair share. UK record labels earn a whopping £736.5 million from streaming.
At the current rate, artists receive about 16%. But the recommendation is that royalties must be paid equally to each party. These astonishing findings came about after 6 months of inquiry and investigation.
Julian Knight, MP, who chairs parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee said, “While streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it – performers, songwriters, and composers – are losing out. Only a complete reset of streaming that enshrines in law their rights to a fair share of the earnings will do.”
Tom Gray of the #BrokenRecord campaign said, “It feels like a massive vindication,” he said. “They’ve really come to the same conclusions that we’ve been saying for a very long time.”
According to the UK representative of the music industry, BPI, streaming was “enabling more artists than ever” to earn a “long-term, sustainable income” and that new policies should be properly examined to ensure against “unintended consequences for investment into new talent”.
A survey by the Ivor’s Academy and Musicians’ Union found that in 2019, 82% of professional musicians made less than £200 from streaming, whilst only 7% made more than £1,000.
Regarding this conflict, guitarist and Chic artist Nile Rogers shared, “We don’t even know what a stream is worth and there’s no way you could even find out what a stream is worth, and that’s not a good relationship.”
Also, Joseph, CEO of Universal Music UK said, “Streaming is 24-7 in every country in the world, you can listen to the greatest record store ever – it’s clearly a sale, it’s not radio, it’s on-demand.”
Apple Music’s Elena Segal said, “It is a narrow-margin business, so it wouldn’t actually take that much to upset the so-called apple cart.”
The response has been different everywhere. While some supported the idea, BPI argued that streaming is always in favor of the artist. They are of the opinion that the current system is what the music industry needs right now and changes will pave the way for clashes. Only the future will tell us.
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