Published 9 February 2023
Last updated 31 May 2023 — See all updates
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.
The transparency work is now at an advanced stage with an
output due to be published in the coming months. The
metadata work has now concluded, with the government
publishing an UK industry agreement on
music streaming metadata on 31 May 2023
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 is at an
advanced stage and will be published once it is finalised.
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.
Timeline
The timeline below lists major milestones in the government’s
programme of work on streaming.
18 June 2019: Publication of Music 2025: the music data
dilemma
22 March 2021: Publication of Music Copyright Explained
15 July 2021: Publication of the
Economics of Music Streaming inquiry
22 September 2021: Publication of the
government’s response to the inquiry
23 September 2021: Publication of the IPO’s Music Creators’
earnings in the digital era report
26 July 2022: Publication of the CMA’s
market study update paper
29 November 2022: Publication of the CMA’s
final report
13 January 2023: Publication of the DCMS
Select Committee’s follow-up report
6 February 2023: Publication of the IPO’s Contract
Adjustment and Rights reversion research
9 February 2023: Publication of the CDEI research into
algorithms
27 March 2023: Publication of the
government’s response to the follow-up
31 May 2023: Publication of the UK industry agreement on
music streaming metadata
Summer 2023: Transparency product to be
finalised and published
Summer 2023: Publication of the equitable
remuneration research
