ECSA makes proposals to 'fix streaming'

By Emmanuel Legrand

The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) has issued a white paper on streaming titled 'Music streaming and its impact on composers and songwriters -- Why we should fix streaming now in which it calls both policy makers and all stakeholders in the music sector " to promote a fairer and more transparent ecosystem for music streaming, which could finally benefit music creators, who are at the origin of all musical creations." 

  Brussels-based ECSA represents over 30,000 professional composers and songwriters in 27 European countries through over 60-member organisations. 

  ECSA writes that to fix streaming, there is "no one single magic solution but rather several key changes required to improve the music market, restore the value of songs and compositions, evaluate and reform the current allocation of revenues per stream, and increase transparency (including for algorithms and playlists)." 

  The document explores a series of potential fixes, such as limiting safe harbours on user-generated platform, addressing the gap between the remuneration of sound recordings and that of music publishing, exploring the impact of the user-centric model on remunerations, allowing songs used below the 30 second listening threshold to qualify for remuneration, introduce "lean-forward" and "lean-back" rates, and build different values and subscription tiers depending on the listening behaviour. 

  "None of those issues can be looked at in isolation: policy makers and music stakeholders must adopt a holistic approach in this key debate about nothing else than the future of music. There is no time to lose," concludes the report.