Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the introduction of an unwaivable performers' remuneration right for streaming.

Ensuring that music creators are fairly compensated for their work is crucial to the ongoing success of our world-class music industry, as this is what allows them to invest their time, effort, and money into creating music.

As part of the government’s work to explore creators’ concerns related to music streaming, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) commissioned independent research on the impacts of three potential legislative interventions, including equitable remuneration. Based on the evidence and recommendations presented in that research, the government decided not to pursue legislative intervention for equitable remuneration.

We have since worked with key stakeholders from across the music industry on the matter of creators’ pay from music streaming through the Creator Remuneration Working Group. The working group comprised senior representatives from across the recorded music sector, including record labels, music streaming platforms and creator representatives. We were delighted to welcome the new label-led principles as an output of these discussions, as well as the individual commitments made by the UK’s major labels, to deliver real benefits for UK creators. We are monitoring the progress of this work and will evaluate outcomes in 2027.