As a key EU directive obliging platforms to pay artists more fairly remains blocked in the Belgian courts, more than eight in ten music artists in the country say they are not satisfied with their streaming income.
A Europe-wide survey by international performer's rights collective PlayRight has found that only one in eight European artists are satisfied with their streaming income. The survey polled more than 9,500 artists from 19 countries.
As reported by Le Soir, in Belgium more than eight out of ten artists (81.48%) are either "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with how much they earn from streaming.
In 2019, the EU adopted a directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market, obliging platforms like Apple Music and Spotify to pay authors and performers in an "appropriate and proportionate" manner.
Since its implementation, artists' views on streaming remuneration have improved slightly. While 87% were not satisfied with their income from streaming platforms in 2022, today the figure is 69.1%. Meanwhile the number of people who are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" has risen from 4% to 5.1%.
However, almost two thirds (64.7%) of European artists report a lack of transparency with how their streaming pay is calculated, while 87.6% say streaming revenues are not distributed fairly, and 71.3% of musicians say royalties for recording sessions are not adequately compensated.
Belgian law held up by court case
Dissatisfaction remains higher among Belgian artists as the national law to transpose the EU directive has been held up in the courts.
The law, which was originally supposed to come into force in August 2022, was challenged in the Constitutional Court by streaming platforms Google, Meta (Facebook), Sony Music, Streamz and Spotify. Platforms are challenging a proposed non-transferable right to remuneration for authors and performers.
A ruling by the Belgian Constitutional Court is due to be handed down at the end of September, and if the Court upholds the validity of the new law, it will apply retroactively from 1 August 2022.
