MEPs voted on Wednesday for a resolution calling for fairer remuneration for artists whose music is broadcast on music streaming platforms. The text was adopted by 532 votes in favor and 61 votes against.
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“The distribution of music on digital platforms does not sufficiently benefit artists, authors, performers”, declared during a press conference on Tuesday January 16 the rapporteur of the text, the Spaniard Ibán García del Blanco (S&D, socialist), even if he welcomed the recent “efforts by the sector to correct these imbalances”. “We ask that the European Commission, in collaboration with stakeholders, examine fairer models for the redistribution of benefits,” he explained.
Streaming represents 67% of the global turnover of the music sector, with an annual turnover of 22.6 billion dollars, recalls the European Parliament in a press release. Even if the sector continues to grow, it only pays very low income to a majority of authors, regret the MEPs, who want better distribution of income. They also denounce the so-called systems of “payola” which force authors to accept lower or no income in exchange for greater visibility.
Artificial intelligence and transparency
Among the proposals put forward is the creation of a “European music observatory” responsible for collecting data and “propose solutions to problems that may be detected now or in the future”. MEPs also want the European executive to draw up a legislative proposal to “guaranteeing European cultural diversity”.
The report also highlights the need for “ethical use of artificial intelligence”. It calls on Brussels to propose targeted legal provisions to guarantee the transparency of algorithms and content recommendation systems on music streaming platforms.
