UK music streaming report calls for "complete reset" of market

For the past six months, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee has been receiving evidence about the streaming market from industry leaders and musicians including Nile Rodgers.

Today (15 July) the 121-page report has been published, and according to the BBC it sees the committee call for streaming royalties to be split 50/50, compared to the current ratio that sees artists receive approximately 16%.

Today we published our Report into the 'Economics of music streaming'.

We looked at a range of issues, including artists' pay from streaming, the implications of copyright law and competition in the market.

Read the key points here:

— Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (@CommonsDCMS) July 15, 2021

Committee chair Julian Knight said of the industry that sees £736.5 million go to UK record labels from streaming, "While streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it - performers, songwriters and composers - are losing out."

Knight added, "Only a complete reset of streaming that enshrines in law their rights to a fair share of the earnings will do."

The Guardian notes that the report states, "The pitiful returns from music streaming impact the entire creative ecosystem. Successful, critically acclaimed professional performers are seeing meagre returns from the dominant mode of music consumption. Non-featured performers are frozen out altogether, impacting what should be a viable career in its own right, as well as a critical pipeline for new talent."

The report added that while streaming has "undoubtedly helped save the music industry" after the issue of piracy, "it is clear that what has been saved does not work for everyone."

#BrokenRecord campaign founder Tom Gray told Music Week that the report "brilliantly and coherently cuts to the chase: the music industry has a serious problem." He also said, "It feels like a massive vindication. They've really come to the same conclusions that we've been saying for a very long time."