28 November 2023

PRESS RELEASE: GESAC welcomes the report on the situation of authors in the music streaming market adopted in CULT Committee

Brussels, 28 November 2023 – GESAC welcomes the CULT Committee’s adoption of the initiative report on “cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market” prepared by MEP Ibán García del Blanco, which rightly highlights the significant problems faced by authors and composers in the music streaming market and calls for EU policy actions to correct the existing imbalances and ensure the market’s sustainability.

The report recognises the key role of creators, who are “at the very origin of the music sector value chain and the first and foremost creative driving force of all music distributed on streaming platforms” and “recalls the need to ensure the value of authors’ rights, regardless of music streaming services’ offers”. It denounces the unfair practices, fraud, and manipulation that “negatively affect the sector, especially authors and performers, and may prevent it from flourishing”. The report “urges the stakeholders to take all necessary steps to overcome the current imbalances and ask the Commission to monitor and encourage progress in this regard, and to consider appropriate policy proposals, should voluntary stakeholders initiatives fail to produce meaningful solutions.”

Moreover, the report includes a clear call for legislative initiatives to ensure the transparency of the algorithms and recommendation tools used by streaming services, and the promotion of cultural diversity in this market.

Véronique Desbrosses said: “The music streaming market has become the main way in which people access music and it is high time to make it a decent and sustainable source of revenue for the authors and composers who are at the core of its success. Authors are asking for the value of music to be improved in the streaming market, and for their key role to be recognised by guaranteeing them a fair share of this value, thus contributing to a sustainable ecosystem. Moreover, EU rules are needed to ensure the transparency of algorithms and the visibility, accessibility and prominence of European works, especially considering the proliferation of AI-generated content and the wrongful manipulation of streams. We welcome the report adopted by the CULT Committee which recognises those points and we would like to thank all the MEPs who worked on this issue, especially the Rapporteur MEP Ibán García del Blanco for all his efforts.”

About GESAC

GESAC groups 32 European authors’ societies (CMOs) and represents as such more than one million authors from various artistic fields, including music, audiovisual, visual, literary and dramatic arts.

For more information:

Véronique Desbrosses – General Manager / veronique.desbrosses@gesac.org | +33 6 62 45 26 01

www.authorsocieties.eu | X: @authorsocieties

Policies

Music Streaming

Music streaming has unquestionably become the predominant means of enjoying music, replacing traditional physical media and expanded far beyond the live sector by providing user-friendly, high quality, and affordable access to the largest possible repertoire anytime, anywhere, online, or offline.

Songs and compositions are at the heart of this thriving market, which counts 524 million users on subscription-based music services globally, reaches more than 2 billion users including the streaming on UGC platforms, and offers more than 70 million tracks from approximately 8 million artists.

Yet, the authors and composers cannot benefit adequately from this success, and the debate over unfairness of this market is gaining traction across Europe and around the world.

There is a need to look more closely at how songwriters and composers are connected to this thriving economy and what can be done to improve their currently neglected situation.

Read below to find out more about the Music Streaming market.