Unfair remuneration, British music industry big names jointly sent a letter to British Prime Minister Johnson, calling on the government to reform the way music platforms pay

Source: Global Times

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on the 7th, more than 200 artists, including The Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, jointly sent a letter to British Prime Minister Johnson, calling on the British government to reform the payment method of music platforms such as streaming media and protect the rights and interests of artists.

"The current streaming payout method has not kept pace with technological change", the open letter sent to the British prime minister was signed not only by Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney and Van Morrison, but also by a new generation of singers such as Kano, Jesse Veil and Wolf Alice. Their grievances have focused on the billions of pounds earned by streaming and record labels over the years without a fair share of the artists.

Since last year, the new crown epidemic has caused many artists to be unable to perform, and their incomes have dropped sharply, while streaming media platforms such as Apple and Sportify have gained more users and traffic during the "lockdown" period. "Most artists get paid only 1 cent of the traffic they play, and music performers don't get 1 cent," the letter says of a common problem facing the music industry today: Streaming companies get the lion's share of revenue, while artists get paid an average of 13 percent of their traffic. As a result, these disgruntled British artists have come forward and called on the government to amend the Copyright Act to push the streaming giants to come up with fairer remuneration to individuals.

The UK Parliament has set up a "Special Committee on Culture, Media and Sport" to gather evidence from all sides to find out how Sportify, Apple and Amazon's music streaming businesses distribute revenue and review whether it is fair to artists and music performers, and the report is expected to be released by the end of this month. The World Intellectual Property Organization has previously conducted a similar survey: "The apparent imbalance between streaming credits and the remuneration of musicians is unacceptable, unsustainable and a systemic problem that urgently needs to be addressed." ”