The UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to the Creator Remuneration Working Group, which brings together stakeholders from across the music industry to discuss how streaming income is shared. It believes that forum provides “the best way to address creator concerns on remuneration in music”.
The new commitment is made in a formal response to a recent report from Parliament’s culture select committee. Its Chair, Caroline Dinenage MP, welcomes that and other commitments, but cautions that ministers now need to “address gaps in copyright protections and support that are clearly leaving many struggling to get by”.
The report, on ‘Creator Remuneration’, wasn’t just focused on music, but did serve to revisit some of the topics considered in the committee’s earlier inquiry into the economics of music streaming.
It highlighted that – since that streaming inquiry in 2021 – the government has commissioned various pieces of research into how artists and songwriters share in streaming income, as well as examining possible copyright law reforms that would impact on how music creators get paid.
The committee said that, following that work, the “government must take stock of the results” of the research and “explore fundamental reform of music streaming” to implement measures to “make streaming work for all”.
In today’s response, the government acknowledges that “many creators continue to have understandable concerns about remuneration and the split of streaming revenues”, adding, “it is vital that discussions and policy-making in this area take place on an informed, evidence-led basis”.
However, the government has stopped short of any direct commitment to implement immediate copyright reform, preferring creators and industry to thrash out an agreement themselves, saying that its “current view is that the best way to address creator concerns on remuneration in music is through dialogue within industry and, where appropriate, industry-led action”.
The Creator Remuneration Working Group began meeting earlier this year after it was set up by the previous Conservative government. After the UK’s Labour Party won the general election, the new government confirmed that the working group would continue.
Since the election, reveals the government’s response, there has been another meeting of the working group “where attendees discussed issues facing artists on older, pre-digital recording contracts”.
“Ministers hope that further progress can be made” through that process, but warns that if agreement can’t be reached, they “reserve the right to consider alternative measures if necessary”. In other words: sort it out between yourselves or we might sort it out for you.
Further meetings of the working group are expected to focus on concerns raised by session musicians and songwriters. The select committee’s ‘Creator Remuneration’ report had a specific section on songwriters, which noted that – in streaming – up to four times more revenue flows to the recording rights than make their way to the owners of the song rights – often referred to as publishing rights.
That unequal split “does not reflect the importance of songwriters, composers and publishers in the music streaming process”, said the committee’s members, urging the government to review the split to “incentivise an optimal rate for publishing rights in order to fairly remunerate creators for their work”.
In response, the government has said that it agrees that “it is important that creators and rightsholders, including songwriters and publishers, are appropriately remunerated for the use of their works”, calling for “songwriters, publishers and other stakeholders” to express their views on the issue via the working group.
“The Creator Remuneration Working Group is the right forum through which views can be expressed, and potential industry-led actions explored in the first instance, before considering further intervention”.
Beyond music streaming issues, the select committee’s ‘Creator Remuneration’ report covered other topics, including the challenges faced by freelancers in the creative industries and the copyright issues caused by generative AI.
On freelancers, the government’s response points to its recently introduced Employment Rights Bill and other measures being considered. On AI, it basically says “we’ll get back to you”, insisting that ministers plan to “proceed carefully but with a degree of urgency” – though many in the creative industries are nervous about quite what that urgency might lead to.
Dinenage has already written to the new government about AI, urging it to reject any proposals for a new copyright exception that would benefit AI companies by allowing them to use copyright protected material to train their models without first getting permission
In her statement today, Dinenage warned that the select committee will be following the government’s next steps closely, saying “the rise of artificial intelligence has had a significant impact on the creative industries across the board. The new committee will be continuing to explore how such emerging technologies can be harnessed to help rather than hinder the ability of creators to enjoy a successful career”.