European Parliament has criticised the meagre earnings of the majority of authors and performers made from music streaming platforms such as Apple Music or Spotify.
The current system forces authors to tacitly accept less or zero income in return for better visibility. In response, EU lawmakers propose the imposition of quotas for European musical works to guarantee their visibility.
The resolution advocates for honesty of platforms, insisting they would make their algorithms and recommendation tools more transparent. This measure is a move to curb unfair practices, like the manipulation of broadcast figures employed to lower artists’ remunerations.
The introduction of a label alerting the public when the played songs are products of artificial intelligence (AI) was proposed by the members. Additionally, they requested regulations to address musical streaming platforms’ use of “deepfakes”, which exploit the identity, voice, and image of authors without their consent.
Based on the Parliament’s statistics, digital music platforms and music sharing services now offer access to over 100 million tracks either free or at relatively low monthly subscription fees.
The music sector’s global turnover is 67% attributable to streaming, boasting an annual turnover of $22.6 billion.
