Music Streaming: Label-led Principles
Debate between Chris Bryant and Alex Sobel(1 day, 18 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)
As co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on music, I commend the Minister on doing an excellent job of bringing record labels into these new provisions. The history of the music industry is sadly full of tales of exploitation, and the industry has proved notable for its intransigence. Protecting the dignity of British songwriters by putting money in their pockets is a welcome step, and it is pleasing to see greater transparency over artists’ renegotiations. However, it is clear that the label provisions, as helpful as they are, do not change or rectify the economic injustice of the streaming model as it stands.
As the Minister knows, copyright law was not brought up to do date for streaming, never mind for what is approaching with AI. More than half the membership of the Musicians’ Union earn less than £14,000 a year. I commend the Minister for his efforts, but can he also offer Members reassurance that this is not job done, when so many music creators and workers are still so poorly served by current arrangements? What more is he going to do for new and emerging artists in terms of the streaming model?
Chris Bryant
The one bit we have not been able to address is the amount of money that goes from the streamers themselves directly to the record labels. That is an international settlement, so it is more difficult for us to address. There was a time, when I first arrived in the House, when musicians were getting absolutely nothing and the amount of money going to record labels and musicians fell off a cliff because of pirated music. Spotify and other streaming services then came into the equation and managed to rectify some of that, but the situation is far from ideal.
I wish more of the money was going directly to the artists. It is my own personal decision that I do not stream music; I buy music, because I think more of the money goes to the artists that way. But of course, for millions of people in the UK—even for the Swiftie over there on the Opposition Benches, the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis)—I am sure that streaming is a convenient way of accessing music that they might never have come across otherwise.