The Creator Remuneration Group brings together government, record labels and organisations representing music makers. Image credit: Shutterstock.
The MU is calling for a modern digital royalty rate for all featured artists from music streaming, no matter when their original deal was signed.
The MU is also calling for:
- Guaranteed royalties for session players from music streaming for the first time ever, known as equitable remuneration
- Rights of contract adjustment and rights reversion, so that music creators can renegotiate old deals after an agreed period instead of being tied to the same terms for life.
Together we can fix streaming
The Creator Remuneration Group brings together government, record labels and organisations representing music makers.
Also representing music creators are the Featured Artists Coalition, Music Manager Forum and our Fix Streaming campaign partners The Ivors Academy.
The group is one of the commitments made by the Government in response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry into music streaming – won by the union’s campaigning work with The Ivors Academy and alongside Tom Gray’s Broken Record movement.
The most important issue is creator renumeration
The transparency and metadata work streams have resulted in codes of practice, signed by the MU and the other industry trade bodies including the BPI on behalf of the major record labels.
Both improving transparency in relation to royalty accounting and getting metadata right, i.e. ensuring that contributors to a recording are credited and know what they're due to be paid, are important.
Now the focus is on equitable creator remuneration.
This process is expected to last for at least six months and there is no doubt that it will be a challenge. Over half of the group is taken up by record labels and music publishers who don't want to see a fair reapportioning of revenue.
Legislation is still on the cards if the Creator Remuneration Group can’t agree a better deal, and we know from the Brennan Bill that fixing streaming has wide cross-party support.
Putting the value of music back where it belongs
Record labels, streaming platforms and other internet giants have exploited musicians and songwriters without rewarding them fairly for too long.
The MU continues to fight for a fair deal on music streaming, and our collective voice as a union with over 34,000 members gives us power in these negotiations.
Look out for more from the Union in the coming months, and make sure you're opted into our regular news emails to stay up to date.