The UK's Council Of Music Makers has urged MPs to "hold the music industry's feet to the fire" in order to ensure ongoing issues around streaming remuneration are addressed. The call came as Parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee again put the spotlight on creator remuneration at a hearing this morning.
In a statement, the CMM - which brings together five organisations representing music-makers and their managers - said: "It's been over two years since the CMS Select Committee called for a complete reset of the UK's music streaming business to address a wide range of market dysfunctions. Their groundbreaking report brought the entire industry to the table for the first time".
“Despite some progress on improving data and transparency, the most contentious issues around music-maker remuneration are yet to be explored”, it went on. “This is an intolerable situation for the UK's artists, songwriters, musicians and producers. We urgently need MPs and the government to help get industry discussions back on track, so that together we can deliver solutions in 2024".
The Select Committee made its call for a "complete reset" of the digital music business in 2021 at the end of an inquiry into the economics of music streaming. In response, the UK government's Intellectual Property Office kickstarted three strands of work seeking industry-led solutions to issues around metadata, transparency and remuneration.
As a result, an industry code on metadata was launched earlier this year, and another focused on transparency is expected in the new year. However, there has been much less progress on remuneration issues. For the CMM, those remain the biggest issues. And they are the issues that MPs returned to earlier today at a session that included input from Nile Rodgers and VV Brown.
Representatives from the Musicians' Union and Ivors Academy - both CMM members - expressed frustration at the lack of progress around remuneration at a hearing of the Select Committee just over a year ago. In part responding to that, earlier this year the government announced it would convene a working group to specifically discuss those issues.
However, the CMM noted this morning, that working group is yet to meet. "We have no detail on who will be on the group or even its remit for discussion". As a result, it concluded, "we are again urging the CMS Committee to help pressure the UK government to 'walk the walk' and deliver the long overdue 'reset' of streaming that the UK's music community so desperately requires".
