Naomi Pohl: “We need a change in copyright law to make sure that money that is generated by music actually goes into the pockets of working musicians.” Photo: Musicians' Union
Musicians’ Union General Secretary Naomi Pohl spoke at Labour Party Conference in support of AI and Our Rights (Composite Motion 10).
Addressing delegates soon after a speech by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy, Naomi highlighted the diversity of UK music and called for wealth redistribution in the form of stronger copyright law.
The MU is calling for stronger copyright protections in relation to artificial intelligence (AI), and a fair deal for all musicians from music streaming.
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Read Naomi’s speech to Labour Conference
“If I want to feel patriotic, then what I do is I go to a live music event. Give me Glastonbury. Give me the Proms. Give me the Cavern Club. Give me the Brits, the Mercurys, the MOBOs. Give me the Ivor Novello Awards. Give me any of our wonderful grassroots music venues and independent festivals or record shops. And give me the fantastic orchestras and choirs that we have throughout this country.
“It's about the wonderful musicians who make the music that make those live events so special. And the thing that makes British music something we can be so proud of is its diversity. If we want to protect this, then we need... wealth redistribution. That's what we need to make sure happens in music.
“There is money in music, but a lot of it leaves the country. Major corporations and big tech companies who make billions of pounds of profit at our members’ expense. Musicians earn on average £20,000 a year from music and that's the same that they earned in 2013. So we really need this change desperately.
“We need a change in copyright law to make sure that money that is generated by music actually goes into the pockets of working musicians.”