Tom Jones and The Rolling Stones call for Streaming Reform

Some of the UK’s biggest music artists call on the government to reform the payment of musicians for online streaming of their songs.

Among those who have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson are The Rolling Stones and Sir Tom Jones. They say the law “has not kept up with the pace of technological change” with regards to calculating royalty payments.

A host of other big names have also signed the open letter, including Sir Paul McCartney, Van Morrison and the estate of Joe Strummer. Current stars such as rapper Kano, rock band Wolf Alice and pop star Jessie Ware also join the music legends in their plight. In total there are 234 signatories.

They argue that streaming services and record labels make billions of pounds in revenue, but don’t fairly distribute it to artists. They claim that musicians now receive very little income from their performances, with some contributors getting nothing at all.

The current situation

The laws governing the payment of musicians comes under the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. It states that royalties are evenly split between the record label and the artists/songwriters when their song is played on the radio. A small part of the payment goes to session musicians and backing performers. This process is ‘equitable remuneration’.

However, things work differently when it comes to online streaming. When a song is streamed, the record labels receive most of the money. On average, only 13% goes to the artist, and nothing to session musicians.

The letter suggests that “only two words” need changing, so that equitable remuneration applies to streaming as well as radio stations.

Musician Tom Gray has set up the online #BrokenRecord campaign to highlight discontent with the streaming business model. Streaming has already replaced physical sales, and is now replacing radio stations too. Therefore, musicians should hold the same rights for online as they do for radio.

Government action on the streaming sector

MPs are currently preparing a report into the streaming sector of the music industry. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee is gathering evidence on the issue. They are investigating how money generated by streaming services is distributed, and if it is done in a way that is fair for performers and writers. They are looking into services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited.

For many artists, the extremely low payments from streaming make their profession unsustainable. It is a “systemic problem” that is “unacceptable”. For example, Mercury Prize nominee Nadine Shah claims she was forced to move back in with her parents because earnings from streaming were not sufficient enough to support her.

Meanwhile, bosses of three major record labels reject the idea that their business model is exploitative or unfair to musicians. Additionally, they deny suggestions that artists are “too scared” to speak out.

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