“STREAMING IS NOT SUSTAINABLE”
These statistics show that music streaming does not play its part in supporting the careers of the vast majority of creators and artists on whose work it relies. We have to make the economics of streaming fairer; improved deals for artists, a bigger share of revenue for songwriters and an income stream for the first time for non-featured musicians.
Musicians’ Union Deputy General Secretary
Naomi Pohl
Music streaming services are no stranger to coming under fire regarding not adequately paying the artists for their work on the platforms; the artists who are quite literally the backbone of these services.
The exploitation of musicians when it comes to streaming has been especially prevalent with services such as Spotify as we have covered many times, however this obviously applies to each and every available platform – Spotify have simply hit the headlines more often.
In a new survey conducted by the Musicians’ Union and The Ivors Academy, polls have shown that a shocking 82% of musicians earn less than £200 per year from streaming, even those who receive millions of streams across all platforms. The deeply disappointing figures show further inadequate treatment and overall exploitation of artists which further stem from streaming services:
🚨82% music creators earn less than £200 a year from streaming
— Musicians’ Union (@WeAreTheMU) December 7, 2020
🚨92% said less than 5% of their earnings came from streaming
🚨43% got a job outside of music due to insufficient income from streaming
It’s time to #FixStreaming and #KeepMusicAlive
👉 https://t.co/ne04ebxaUf pic.twitter.com/NFScnyMLbl
Today (December 8th) a second inquiry is to be held in parliament in which multiple MPs from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the UK will hear from acclaimed and award-winning artists as well as those working for the fight against the exploitation of musicians on streaming platforms. For example, Jazz alto-saxophonist and The Ivors Academy member Soweto Kinch, manager and record producer Kwame Kwaten will be addressing the issue, amongst many others.
This survey is further demonstration that the song and the songwriter are undervalued. Too much streaming money is going to the major labels, this is an outdated model and needs reform. We have the best songwriters in the world and they deserve more.
CEO of The Ivors Academy
Graham Davies
In October on behalf of the #BrokenRecord Campaign, YouGov conducted a survey in which 77% of those who participated believed musicians are not paid enough by streaming services, while 69% stated they would be willing to pay more for their subscriptions if they knew that the money was going straight to the artists.
For more information regarding the news from the MUs’ official website, click here.
