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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of streaming on the level of the income of musicians and composers.

The Government recognises the vital importance of ensuring that music creators, including musicians, songwriters and composers, are appropriately compensated for their work.

Many creators have legitimate concerns about remuneration from streaming. Revenues from recorded music constitute a small proportion of UK music creators’ earnings, with live music and teaching being the main ways in which music creators make a living from music (IPO report, 2021). I commend the efforts of industry to address this, such as the major labels’ decision to disregard unrecouped advances in older contracts, but there is further progress to be made.

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the creative industries, we are engaging constructively with a broad range of stakeholders from across the music ecosystem through a working group aiming to drive industry-led action on music streaming remuneration.