The Musicians’ Union (MU) is a Labour Party affiliated trade union representing over 36,000 musicians across the UK, working in all sectors of the music industry.
The below are our Manifesto Asks to all political parties, ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary elections on 7 May 2026.
Deliver 'Fair Work' for musicians and the creative workforce
The STUC ‘Freelance and Forgotten’ report highlighted widespread levels of exploitation underpinning Scotland’s creative economy – an economic powerhouse generating billions to the economy and employing over 100,000 people in Scotland.
The creative sector urgently needs Fair Work principles to apply to our workforce to bolster and secure a sector characterised by low pay, exploitation and precarity.
The MU call on political parties in Scotland to:
- Resolutely commit to continue delivering Fair Work for musicians and cultural workers across the creative industries including resolving to deliver the recommendations set out by the Culture Fair Work Taskforce in full.
- Recognise that through the delivery of Fair Work, the creative workforce should no longer be characterised by high levels of exploitation, harassment and precarity, that Fair Work is a transformative force which has the power to enrich many facets of our lives including our children’s education and wellbeing, our communities and our economy.
- Recognise that a thriving creative sector, bolstered by firm Fair Work principles will place Scotland as the gold standard of countries where creatives can live, work and thrive, acknowledging the positive and transformative power that a vibrant and supported music culture sector has on our society and economy.
Invest in music education and protect instrumental music services
Equitable access to high quality music education for every child, regardless of their background or postcode, must be the key driver behind the policies which drive our music education framework, underpinned by robust fair work policies and practice across formal, informal and non-formal music education.
The MU calls on all political parties in Scotland to:
- Redouble commitments to funding free instrumental tuition in schools with inflationary increases and develop a long term, sustainable funding model alongside a strategy to increase Instrumental Music Teacher numbers to deliver the service.
- Put appropriate mechanisms in place to ensure that Scottish Government grant money paid to Local Authorities for the delivery of Instrumental Music Services is ringfenced for this purpose, not siphoned elsewhere in local authority spend.
- Ensure that Fair Work principles govern contracts across all local authorities and partner organisations, particularly for Youth Music Initiative contracts.
- Further invest to deliver restorative funding to the Youth Music Initiative, bringing the budget into line with appropriate inflationary increases since YMI’s inception in 2003.
- Work with Creative Scotland and local authorities to review terms and conditions for YMI work, addressing the lack of transparency and inconsistency around the work, terms and conditions and how the work is contracted.
Promote Scotland’s musicians on the international stage
Scotland’s musicians are world-class. Our cultural exports enrich lives, strengthen international ties, and showcase Scotland’s creativity on the global stage. Yet, barriers to touring and exchange continue to suppress our artists’ ability to work and earn to their full potential, further stifling opportunities to develop audiences, global markets and cultural Exchange.
Ahead of the 2026 elections, the MU calls on all political parties to:
- Lobby the UK Government to commit to upholding and strengthening international commitments by building on the 2025 Common Understanding (Article 15), which recognised the value of travel and cultural exchanges.
- Champion Scotland’s role in removing barriers for touring artists and the wider creative industries.
- Lobby the UK government to seek to reach agreement with the EU to allow detailed negotiations to reduce the barriers faced by touring artists; safeguarding future talent and income streams by ensuring sustainable income channels for musicians.
- Champion Scotland’s Cultural Exports by positioning music as a vital part of Scotland’s international identity including ensuring that Scottish artists can represent their nation globally without prohibitive costs or bureaucracy.
- Establish and fund a Music Export Office for Scotland to provide support for music exports of all genres. Building on the existing work already taking place, the office would provide comprehensive support for touring artists in the post-Brexit era from logistics to bureaucracy.
- Recognise that musicians are ambassadors for Scotland around the world, and that investment in their success is an investment in the profile and reputation of Scotland.
- Fully support and promote the benefits of rejoining Creative Europe.
- Enhance and promote cultural exchange with international artists coming to Scotland, strengthening global connections and driving innovation in sound and identity.
Support grassroots infrastructure and domestic touring
It is well documented that leaving the EU has had disastrous consequences for musicians who regularly tour and work in the EU. However, for many working musicians, the costs associated with domestic touring in Scotland and the rest of the UK are stifling this vital income stream and means for musicians to grow their domestic audience; as is a perceived shortage of venues.
We call on Scottish political parties to:
- Work with local authorities to introduce exemptions for local charges which particularly affect cultural workers such as ULEZ charges.
- Extend ‘Agent of Change’ provisions in Scotland and further enshrine the principle into planning regulation, protecting venues, rehearsal and recording spaces and musicians working from home from punitive noise complaint sanctions.
- Work with key stakeholders within the sector to develop touring networks and links between Scotland’s cities, rural areas and other UK touring locations including the Scottish islands and Northern Ireland.
- Introduce business rates relief for music businesses including venues, recording and rehearsal spaces to bolster grassroots infrastructure.
Invest in culture
The sector has welcomed the promised increase in culture spend of the current government of £100m by 20208/29.
We call on the Scottish Government to:
- Work with the sector to ensure that the funding has comprehensive reach and that individual artists are more widely and fully supported, as well as arts organisations and National Performing Companies.
- Consult with key stakeholders in the sector on the recent Creative Scotland Review and how to drive forward the best outcomes in light of the recommendations and in light of reported concerns around a lack of focus on EDI issues within the review’s structure and process.
- Re-double commitments to arts spending increases made by the current Scottish Government.
Legislate to help fix music streaming and protect culture
While copyright law remains reserved to Westminster, culture and contract law are devolved areas. Given that music exploitation relies on a contract, this gives the Scottish Parliament a clear, lawful route to improve fairness for musicians now.
Devolved contract law in Scotland is an opportunity.
Scotland’s music sector is one of our greatest cultural and economic strengths. Scottish artists and performers have impacted shaped global culture for centuries, yet the modern music industry puts this hugely valuable asset under threat. Music streaming has generated substantial revenues for global conglomerates, streaming platforms and record labels. However, most artists receive paltry payments.
Outdated contracts, unequal bargaining power and opaque contractual and accounting practices mean many artists struggle to earn a basic living despite their music receiving substantial streaming numbers.
Music streaming revenues are shared roughly as follows:
- 30% to the streaming platform
- 55% to the record label (who will pay a royalty of between 10-25% to featured artists, if they have recouped recording costs and receive any royalty at all)
- 15% to the music publisher / songwriter.
The UK Government has so far failed to update copyright law to ensure musicians get a fair deal for music streaming. This undermines the UK’s competitiveness as a place where musicians can build sustainable careers, compared to territories in the EU for example.
In the EU, a copyright directive was passed which set out improvements to contract terms and remuneration for musicians and other creators. As contract law is devolved in Scotland, there is an opportunity to provide better protections for musicians here, align more closely with EU territories and set a standard for Westminster to follow.
We call on the next Scottish Government to legislate for mandatory minimum standards in all contracts involving the exploitation of music where the contract is governed by Scots law or the work was created in Scotland.
We ask the Scottish Government to introduce minimum contractual rights that ensure:
- Full transparency in royalty accounting; showing revenues from and uses of an artist’s work, as well as any costs a label attributes to an artist’s account and any deductions made from royalty payments.
- A right to adjusted remuneration where the artist or performer receives a disproportionately low share of income compared to the value generated. For example, old contracts could be updated to modern terms including fair royalty rates on streaming for signed artists.
- A 20-year reversion right, allowing artists and performers to reclaim their rights from record labels and publishers after two decades.
By acting within devolved powers, Scotland has opportunities at its fingertips to modernise its music economy, protect music creators, and secure a more sustainable and equitable future for the musicians who define Scotland’s cultural identity.
'A Culture Act for Scotland'
The MU supports Culture Counts calls for A Culture Act for Scotland. Culture is a key driver of Scotland’s economy and provides a wealth of benefits for society and communities and with further bolstering could hold real potential for transformation across the sector.
We call on political parties to:
- Work collaboratively with sector stakeholders to establish and support new legislation enshrining culture as a national priority.