DCMS Report: The key reactions from the creative sector

Here are the main reactions to the DCMS report on the economy of streaming.

“While streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it - performers, songwriters and composers - are losing out. Only a complete reset of streaming that enshrines in law their rights to a fair share of the earnings will do. However, the issues we’ve examined reflect much deeper and more fundamental problems within the structuring of the recorded music industry itself. We have real concerns about the way the market is operating, with platforms like YouTube able to gain an unfair advantage over competitors and the independent music sector struggling to compete against the dominance of the major labels."
By Julian Knight, Chair of the DCMS Committee at the British Parliament.

"The Government should introduce robust and legally enforceable obligations to normalise licensing arrangements for UGC-hosting services, to address the market distortions and the music streaming ‘value gap’. It must ensure that these obligations are proportionate."
By MP Kevin Brennan, outlining on Twitter how views following the disclosure of the DCMS report.

“When considering this report, the government also needs to consider the vital role that labels play as the leading investors into artists’ careers, with investment in artists by record labels growing year-on-year. Artists also now have more choice in how to manage their careers, with independent and self-releasing artists growing their share of the market. Labels are committed to ensuring that artists share fairly in the growth from streaming. We will carefully examine the findings of this report, but it is essential that any policy proposals avoid unintended consequences for investment into new talent, and do not imperil this country’s extraordinary global success in music."
By Geoff Taylor, CEO of British record labels' trade organisation the BPI, whose members include the three major companies and independent labels.

"The select committee has impressively zeroed in on some of the key issues in music and many of the report's findings endorse and vindicate the ethical practices of the independent music community. The independent community is founded on fair dealing and we believe the MPs have tried to make recommendations that benefit creators in good faith. However, our view is that equitable remuneration will not deliver the outcome they are hoping for. It is a 20th century solution not fit for the 21st century digital market and will leave the next generation of artists worse off. We look forward to examining the findings in detail and continuing to work with all our partners in music and beyond to deliver successful, strong, inclusive and diverse outcomes for music."
By Paul Pacifico, CEO of independent labels' organisation AIM, who had expressed opposition to the notion of equitable remuneration.

"The song is the heart of the music business and songwriters are at the heart of the music publishing business. The inquiry recognises the vital publisher-songwriter partnership. Publishers have always advocated for and will continue to fight for the value of the song on behalf of songwriters. We welcome attention being paid by the government to the distortions created in the digital ecosystem by safe harbours and piracy."  
By Roberto Neri, Chairman of the Music Publishers' Association (MPA).

“The DCMS report touches upon very important questions surrounding the music market as a whole, and it is crucial to look at different options. There are many opportunities to make streaming fairer for all, and we see music services and streaming platforms as our key partners for doing so. They are a vital part of today’s music market and we look forward to working with them and the whole ecosystem to improve the situation for musicians, labels, and of course, fans. We support reform of streaming and we recently set out concrete ways of doing that in our 10-point plan to make streaming fairer. IMPALA cannot support equitable remuneration on streaming as we believe it is not in fact equitable. Our assessment is that it would be damaging for diversity and emerging artists.” 
By Helen Smith (not Lewis, as she is identified in the report on Page 56...), Executive Chair of Brussels-based independent labels' organisation IMPALA.

“We congratulate the DCMS committee on the most significant inquiry into the British music industry since their predecessor committee investigated CD pricing nearly 30 years ago. The MPs’ searing analysis reflects our own view that the music industry desperately needs to modernise and recognise that the purpose of the music business is to serve artists and songwriters rather than simply to extract value from them. The anger felt by artists and songwriters is not just a UK phenomenon. It is being felt worldwide. And it is time for the industry to respond. The world has changed and, as in so many areas, exploitative behaviour is no longer acceptable. The committee has called for regulatory action. We hope that will not be necessary, but executives and shareholders alike need to accept that they cannot continue as before. It is a privilege to work in music. That privilege should not be abused.” 
By Bertelsmann-owned music company BMG in a statement.

“This cross-party report is revolutionary. It grasps the issue, identifies the problems and recommends achievable and practical solutions, which won’t cost the taxpayer a penny. It’s time to make the most of this rare, cross-party consensus, bring British copyright law up to date, show Global Britain leading the fight to protect the intellectual property of artists and creators, and make the UK the best place to be a musician.”
By  Horace Trubridge, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union.

“As we’ve repeated, rather like a broken record, it’s a failing market where corporations have little incentive to share their extraordinary profits with the architects of their success, musicians. This goes to show that when artists come together and speak honestly about our experiences and those of our peers, our politicians can easily surmise the reality – the public too. This is not about getting more money for wealthy musicians, that mythology ought to be long dead. This is about preserving a national treasure into the future: our extraordinary, diverse British musical talent.”
By  Tom Gray, founder of the #BrokenRecord Campaign. 

"We welcome today’s landmark report from Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee calling for artists, composers and musicians to benefit more equally from the boom in online streaming. This is a serious and comprehensive piece of work. It contains a wide range of recommendations, many of which, if implemented, could fundamentally reset and improve the current economic model for recorded music. This is a once in a lifetime moment to reset our business along fairer and more equitable lines, it is not an opportunity to be wasted."
By the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and the Music Managers Forum(MMF).

"This is an impressive report from the DCMS Committee. In a short space of time, our members of parliament have been able to distill why the songwriter and artist are not being remunerated properly with some accuracy and we both applaud and support their efforts. We are particularly focused on their recommendations that there be a full reset of streaming in law that gives songwriters and artists a fair share of the earnings, and that further to this the government refer the case to the Competition and Markets Authority to undertake a full market study into the economic impact of the major music groups’ dominance. This is essential to ensure that the unhealthy control that the major recorded music companies have over streaming negotiations is addressed and to expose the fundamental flaws that exist within the music industry.”  
By Merck Mercuriadis, Founder and CEO of London-listed music assets' investment firm Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited.

“The CMA strongly supports competitive digital markets. We will consider carefully the recommendations in the report that relate to the CMA, and we will work with DCMS to respond to these in due course."  
By a spokesperson for the Competition Markets Authority (CMA).

“We welcome the Select Committee's report on the economics of music streaming and recognise the importance of this work for the industry. We will issue a response to the report in due course. We are also gathering our own evidence through a research project looking at creators’ earnings in streaming and will consider the findings from this in the coming months.”
By a British government spokesperson, in a statement to MusicWeek.

"The UK has become the shining example of examining this situation. Now is the time to act."
By US producer, performer and songwriter Nile Rodgers in an interview with GB News. Rodgers said that the next step would be to pass a law that would be "fair and equitable."

Other articles about the DCMS report:

> DCMS report proposes a 'reset' of the music industry

> The main recommendations of the report

> An analysis of the report by Emmanuel Legrand

> An interview with Crispin Hunt, Chair of the Ivors Academy