Last year, music streaming platforms in Belgium exceeded €100 million in revenue. However, the Belgian society managing authors’ rights (Sabam) laments that only a handful of songwriters can live on their online earnings.
The current system means that revenue is split so that streaming platforms receive 30%, performers and labels receive 55%, and just 15% goes to the songwriters, Sabam stated on Sunday.
“In the past, we paid €20 for an album with 10 to 20 songs. Today, for the same price, you can subscribe to a streaming service for two months and instantly access millions of songs,” said Sabam’s head of music, Steven Desloovere.
As a result, of the 17,819 songwriters to whom Sabam distributed online royalties last year, just 862 received more than €1,000. In addition, the Belgian music market is fractured by the various linguistic communities, meaning that music streaming accounts for just 11% of copyright revenue – far below the European average of 25% and the global one-third.
“But it’s mainly our consumption habits that have a major impact,” insists Sabam. Only one in ten Belgians subscribe to a streaming service, three times fewer than France and four times less than the Netherlands. Belgians are more likely to opt for free rather than paid subscriptions. The number of paying subscribers is up to 30% lower than in neighbouring countries, notes Sabam. “Free subscriptions provide ten times less revenue to authors and composers than a paid version”, Desloovere points out.
Furthermore, Belgians consume relatively little Belgian music; in 2023 only 34% of tracks listened to online were local, compared to 38% in 2022.
