UK investigating whether Apple Music, Spotify, and others pay artists fairly
The UK government is launching an inquiry into what musicians are paid by streaming services such as Apple Music, and also how that money is distributed.
Apple Music reportedly pays the most to musicians out of all the major streaming services
The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is to begin an inquiry next month into fair pay for musicians from streaming services. It has not specified what actions it may take, except that the findings could influence whether the UK creates an equivalent to the European Union's Copyright Directive.
According to BBC News, the DCMS committee is to be headed by Julian Knight, MP, who says streaming growth, "cannot come at the expense of talented and lesser-known artists."
Although streaming services do not publicize what they pay artists, BBC News says that it is estimated that Apple pays around 0.0059 per stream ($0.008). As previously reported, that means Apple pays more than Spotify, which is said to pay between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream.
YouTube is claimed to pay the least, at $0.007, per stream. Even these low fees can be reduced still further, as they are shared amongst all the rights holders.
While Apple has previously stated that over 70% of Apple Music revenues go to the artists, sharing those payments can mean that the recording artist themselves may only receive 13% of the per-stream total.
"We're asking whether the business models used by major streaming platforms are fair to the writers and performers who provide the material," said Knight. "Longer-term we're looking at whether the economics of streaming could in future limit the range of artists and music that we're all able to enjoy today."
The UK's Musician's Union commented that the timing of the inquiry is significant, saying that the coronavirus pandemic "has highlighted that the royalties generated by streaming are far too low and the market is failing the vast majority of our members."
In April 2020, Apple reportedly tried to address the issue of musicians' earnings during COVID-19, by launching a $50m fund to help them. It was specifically an advance fund, against future Apple Music royalties, and was limited to record labels and distributors earning at least $10,000 per quarter from the service.
Apple Music reportedly pays the most to musicians out of all the major streaming services
The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is to begin an inquiry next month into fair pay for musicians from streaming services. It has not specified what actions it may take, except that the findings could influence whether the UK creates an equivalent to the European Union's Copyright Directive.
According to BBC News, the DCMS committee is to be headed by Julian Knight, MP, who says streaming growth, "cannot come at the expense of talented and lesser-known artists."
Although streaming services do not publicize what they pay artists, BBC News says that it is estimated that Apple pays around 0.0059 per stream ($0.008). As previously reported, that means Apple pays more than Spotify, which is said to pay between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream.
YouTube is claimed to pay the least, at $0.007, per stream. Even these low fees can be reduced still further, as they are shared amongst all the rights holders.
While Apple has previously stated that over 70% of Apple Music revenues go to the artists, sharing those payments can mean that the recording artist themselves may only receive 13% of the per-stream total.
"We're asking whether the business models used by major streaming platforms are fair to the writers and performers who provide the material," said Knight. "Longer-term we're looking at whether the economics of streaming could in future limit the range of artists and music that we're all able to enjoy today."
The UK's Musician's Union commented that the timing of the inquiry is significant, saying that the coronavirus pandemic "has highlighted that the royalties generated by streaming are far too low and the market is failing the vast majority of our members."
In April 2020, Apple reportedly tried to address the issue of musicians' earnings during COVID-19, by launching a $50m fund to help them. It was specifically an advance fund, against future Apple Music royalties, and was limited to record labels and distributors earning at least $10,000 per quarter from the service.
Comments
EDIT: Since the whole streaming royalties thing is probably confusing, this article helps make sense of it all.
https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-streaming-rates-payouts
EDIT2: Maybe it is right. Kinda. According to the chart the Google music subscription YouTube Red, pays out a higher streaming rate than Apple Music. I never knew that.
What’s the difference between an “artist” and a “recording artist”? And what “sharing” is the author talking about here? And what formula transfers 70% to 13%?
I think too much info has been left out or miss-quoted from the original source.
In my opinion the major issue here are the labels not the streaming platforms.
Oh don't play this stupid "but Google is good company!" bullsh** everyone is sick of. YouTube pays almost dirt to artists and refuses to remove pirated music. Youtube is the biggest audio streaming service in the world with some artists getting ZERO dollars for millions of streams and independent artists never seeing a penny.
YouTube Red is ignoring the article and moving the goalposts to make a shi**y company look good. 99% of YouTube views are not YouTube Red subscribers.
The total paid to the label/artist adjacent both the number of subscribers and the average subscription cost is a better way of understanding the realities of the business.
First you could see how much is being passed on, versus that kept as profit or lost to operations.
Then there are other metrics to keep in mind: Youtube for example makes a lot of money from non-red users and significant quantities of unofficial duplication (as well as the greater network of following this user around the web.) Paying more per stream doesn't truly reflect how much the artist is losing from the exact same service.
A final note is that many of the providers also sponsor artists: Not just with promotion, but by paying for film clips, recording time, edits and direct cash payments.