Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her department is considering measures to require music streaming services such as Spotify and music video services such as YouTube to provide transparency information on how recommendation algorithms work, in the context of US media indexing in other English speaking markets.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring the UK music sector remains globally competitive and resilient against international market pressures. My department regularly engages with major streaming and video platforms, including Spotify and YouTube, to monitor market trends. While there are currently no plans to introduce algorithmic transparency requirements, we keep digital music markets under continuous review to support a fair and thriving environment for UK creators.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether his department considered asking the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the consolidation of independent music distributors by major record companies based overseas.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

As the UK’s independent competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) investigates mergers that meet certain jurisdictional tests based on UK turnover or market share, as set out in the Enterprise Act 2002. The government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers and expertise to investigate the benefits and risks of mergers in relation to competition.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her department has considered legislating or amending the Online Safety Act (Section 162) so that Ofcom could require music streaming services and music video services to provide to independent researchers with information about how their algorithms select music for users and to assess whether it provides a level playing field.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS has no current plans to amend Section 162 of the Online Safety Act (OSA). DCMS has committed to consult to establish the framework for researchers to access data held by digital platforms under section 154A. The Act sets out that the data be for the purposes of ‘independent research into online safety matters’, which is defined as anything relating to Ofcom’s online safety functions. This does not include algorithms to select music for users.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his department has considered a tax on online music and video streaming services that directs revenues towards grassroots artists and music makers.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.