The government’s work on music streaming

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Overview

On 15 July 2021 the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Select Committee published the report of its inquiry into the Economics of Music Streaming. The report made recommendations for the government to address a range of issues it had identified in the music industry. The government’s response, led by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and DCMS, was published on 22 September 2021. It set out that the government would launch a comprehensive programme of work to look at the key issues identified by the inquiry, including workstreams led by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the IPO.

The CMA launched a market study looking at potential competition issues in the sector on 27 January 2021. On 29 November 2022, the CMA published Music and streaming: final report, setting out its findings and conclusions. The CMA found that the concerns raised by artists are not being driven by the level of concentration of the recording market. They also decided not to undertake a market investigation.

The IPO’s work focuses on some of the copyright issues raised in the inquiry. This includes a workstream examining issues relating to how streaming metadata is generated and used across the industry, which currently results in some songwriters and publishers facing payment delays. The IPO established a working group of industry experts to agree actions to improve metadata practices. The IPO also established a second industry expert group to look at enhancing transparency across the music industry by agreeing a Code of Practice.

The memberships of the two expert groups were published in a letter from the IPO to the DCMS Select Committee on 24 November 2022. The members were selected based on their expertise and participated in their personal capacities rather than as representatives of their employers, trade bodies, or interest groups.

Both the metadata and the transparency working groups met regularly throughout 2022. The meeting agendas from the metadata and transparency working groups can be found below, along with the meeting minutes from the transparency working group.

Metadata working group meeting agendas (MS Word Document, 20 KB)
Transparency working group meeting agendas (PDF, 1.14 MB, 11 pages)
Transparency working group meeting minutes (PDF, 3.87 MB, 41 pages)

The metadata work has now concluded, with the government publishing an UK industry agreement on music streaming metadata on 31 May 2023. The transparency work has also concluded, with the government publishing a UK industry code of practice on transparency in music streaming on 31 January 2024.

The IPO also commissioned independent research on the impacts of three potential legislative interventions on creator remuneration: equitable remuneration, contractual adjustment mechanisms, and rights reversion. The research on contract adjustment mechanisms and rights reversion was published on 6 February 2023. The research on equitable remuneration was published on 19 February 2024.

The music industry has been kept updated on the government’s work through regular meetings of the Contact Group, composed of a cross-section of senior industry members including creator, manager, publisher and label representatives. The membership of the Contact Group was published in a letter from Julia Lopez MP and George Freeman MP to the DCMS Select Committee on 18 May 2022.

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), formerly a part of DCMS, conducted research into the impact of streaming services’ algorithms on music consumption. On 9 February 2023, DCMS published research into the impact of streaming services’ algorithms on music consumption. The final report finds that evidence proving or disproving whether these technologies embed, amplify, or introduce unfair biases is mixed, and at times inconclusive. The report also makes several suggestions for streaming services to improve transparency around algorithms for consumers and creators.

In May 2023 the government announced plans to establish a working group to explore and consider industry-led actions on remuneration for existing and future creators, acknowledging recent progress by music companies in this space. The terms of reference and membership of the working group can be found below: