Spotify recently released its annual report, which tells us, artists in the music industry, how many streams that our songs got during the year and the number of people who listened to us. At the same time, subscribers to streaming platforms also receive their results and discover the artists who made them vibrate all year long. Unfortunately, these artists are not paid the fair value of these plays.
Last week, artist Damon Krukowski spoke in The Guardian to denounce what this compilation does not say: the artists deserve to be better paid for all these listenings. At the same time, Artisti, of which I am president, launched a mobilization campaign to denounce the unfair distribution of royalties and demand reform of the Copyright Act.
In fact, performing artists in the music sector do not benefit from fair remuneration when their music is the subject of streaming on-demand (the type of streaming offered by paid platforms that allows you to immediately play a specific song on the device of your choice). Thus, Damon Krukowski suggests that the maximum that a soundtrack can generate on Spotify is US$0.003 (CA$0.00406).
Of this tiny sum, practically nothing reaches the performing artists!
In fact, the sums paid by the platforms are not paid directly to the performers, unlike what is done for the authors of the music (lyricists and composers). In the case of performers, payments first pass through a cascade of stakeholders (distributors, record companies and producers).
Each participant takes the share to which he considers himself entitled. At the end of the chain, only crumbs remain for the performer.
In short, if the featured artist receives monies for this form of streaming, these are often derisory amounts. As for the accompanying artists (the instrumentalists and choristers who accompany him), they receive nothing for the streaming on demand for their music, because the contracts between them and producers do not provide for any payment of royalties.
Solutions
The deficient remuneration for performers whose music is listened to on demand is experienced on a global scale, but three countries have found a solution.
Spain, Belgium and Uruguay have provided mechanisms for performers to receive fairer remuneration. Why wouldn’t Canada be able to do it too?
The problem of remuneration streaming cannot be adjusted by streaming platforms. Their proposals will not ensure that money reaches performers. Rather, the payment must go directly to them or to the company that represents them. To do this, the federal government has the power to change things by modifying its Copyright Act to provide a right to remuneration ensuring them royalties for each listen to their music on online platforms.
We implore the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, to put an end to this unfair situation as quickly as possible. We encourage the public to relay our message to elected officials. In the name of music!