Radiohead and Elbow members to give evidence to MPs on the impact of streaming

The first session of the Economics of music streaming inquiry will hear from Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brein and Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, alongside soloist Nadine Shah, on how the rise of music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music has affected them as artists and songwriters. The session will focus on issues around fair renumeration for artists who have their music on these platforms, also hearing from Tom Gray, musician and founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign. His campaign was launched to raise awareness of how musicians are paid after the Covid-19 pandemic halted revenue from live music and performance.

The Committee will also question music industry experts on the impact of the different kinds of business models operated by streaming platforms and the response of major record labels to the growth of these platforms.

Witnesses from 10.00:

• Tom Gray, Founder, #BrokenRecord Campaign; vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, Gomez
• Colin Young, streaming auditor and accountant, CC Young & Co
• Tom Frederikse, Partner, Clintons Solicitors, former music producer/engineer

At approx. 11.30:

• Ed O’Brien, guitarist, Radiohead
• Guy Garvey, singer and songwriter, Elbow; BBC 6 Music presenter
• Nadine Shah, singer, songwriter and musician

Notes to editors:

- Use #MusicStreamingInquiry on Twitter. The session will be livestreamed on @CommonsDCMS

- The DCMS Committee’s inquiry into the economics of streaming was launched on 15 October 2020. Music streaming in the UK brings in more than £1 billion in revenue with 114 billion music streams in the last year, however artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated.