Share your views on low/no royalties from music streaming on social media using the hashtag #FixStreaming. Photo: Shutterstock.
We are grateful to Minister Chris Bryant who has put significant time and effort into meeting the record labels to discuss ways in which they could improve their offer for artists, particularly those on older, traditional record deals.
This follows a series of Creator Remuneration Working Group meetings which have been attended by MU General Secretary Naomi Pohl alongside other music industry representatives.
However, the Musicians' Union and Council of Music Makers remain disappointed that the labels have not addressed the key issues with music streaming economics.
While the DCMS Select Committee in 2021 called for a “complete reset” of music streaming to achieve improvements in creator remuneration, the package announced today is at best tangential to those issues.
We are clear that we need to see a fairer share of streaming revenue paid to all musicians and music makers, and therefore we are launching a petition calling for copyright reform.
The fundamental problems with music streaming economics remain
Musicians' Union General Secretary Naomi Pohl said: "We are grateful to Minister Chris Bryant for the pressure he has put on record labels, and the majors in particular, to improve terms for artists on older contracts.
“While an uplift on minimum session rates was achieved by the MU in negotiation with the BPI last year, this doesn’t address a lack of royalties for session musicians and we also want to see modern royalty rates for all signed artists.
“The fundamental problems with music streaming economics remain. For that reason, we will shortly launch a petition calling for copyright reform. We have also secured an additional meeting with the Minister in September to discuss session musician remuneration specifically."
Key points from the Goverment's announcment
The Government announcement including the following:
- A set of principles from the BPI, representing record labels, which offers 'good faith' renegotiation of older contracts
- A reference to the MU / BPI session rates increasing, which we balloted members on in December 2024
- A commitment to pay per diems and/or expenses to songwriters attending recording sessions at the request of a record label.
Are you a featured artist signed to a record label?
Please check the terms of your contract and seek renegotiation, particularly if you were signed before streaming became the main way that people consume music. Some guidelines on renegotiation are here.
The Council of Music Makers, which includes the Musicians' Union, is still seeking:
- A minimum, modern digital royalty rate to apply on all signed artists' contract regardless of when they were signed
- A rolling commitment to write-off unrecouped balances of signed artists after 20 years
- Rights reversion so artists and songwriters can reclaim their rights after a set period of time
- Streaming royalties for session musicians
- A right to contract adjustment, which would mean updating unfair or outdated terms in old contracts.
Next steps in the campaign to fix streaming
We will be urgently launching a petition, which we will circulate in the coming weeks, calling on Government to update the Copyright Act to fix music streaming as part of next year’s AI Bill.
Crucially, we have also secured a further meeting with Minister Chris Bryant and the record labels in September to discuss session musicians and what would constitute fair remuneration for them.
In the meantime, share your views on low/no royalties from music streaming on social media using the hashtag #FixStreaming.