The European Parliament is call for new rules that will bring more fairness and transparency to music streaming across the bloc, including proposals for a new bill to force streaming platforms to open up their recommendation algorithms.
The bill would also require Spotify et al to make it clear where a song has been created by artificial intelligence (AI).
While Europe has made moves in this direction for a while nowmembers of the European Parliament (MEPs) today voted to approve a new resolution by a vote of 532 to 61, with 33 MPs abstaining from the vote, which — if a bill is eventually passed — would see a wide range of changes to music streaming in the region.
At the heart of this push is a desire to ensure that European artists get fairer visibility and exposure on music streaming platforms, similar to efforts in other markets such as Canada which has passed the Online Streaming Law to support Canadian artists. Although the final details are far from being determined, this may eventually involve setting quotas for the display of a certain amount of work by European artists.
Building on this, the new EU bill could also “oblige” streaming platforms to help prevent unfair practices by making their algorithms and recommendation engine more transparent — this, they say, will help prevent stream count manipulation that can to be used to reduce artists’ fees.
In addition, with more music created by AI systems, including so-called “deep fakes” that seek to imitate established artists, Europe could also force music streaming platforms to properly label music as such — similar to French Deezer started doing last year.
Distribution of revenue
Europe’s plans also include provisions to ensure a wider distribution of streaming revenue to all artists involved in a recording, not just the main ‘brand’ artist.
This dovetails somewhat with ongoing efforts in Uruguay, where the government introduced a new law that promises “fair and equitable” pay for all performers in a streamed project — in this case, Spotify argued that the law would mean essentially that it would have to pay rights holders twice for the same tracks, driving the music streaming giant to start closing in the country in December. But the company made a U-turn when the government gave assurances that music streaming platforms would not be expected to cover additional costs arising from the law.
Similarly, France recently introduced new tax which will impose a fee of between 1.5 and 1.75% on all music streaming services to funding a new body to be established in 2020 which supports the French music sector. In response, Spotify pledged to cut its investment in the French market, starting with its support of two music festivals.
This latest move by the European Parliament seeks to address similar concerns across the scale — oppositemusic streaming revenue ibalance that “leaves the majority of writers and performers very undercompensated.”
Spanish politician and MEP Iban García del Blanco he said Parliament was “giving voice to the concerns of European creators”.
“Cultural diversity and ensuring that creators are represented and paid fairly has always been our priority — that’s why we’re calling for rules to ensure that the algorithms and recommendation tools used by music streaming services are transparent, as well as the use of artificial intelligence tools. putting European writers in the spotlight,” del Blanco said in a statement.
Digital Music Europea trade organization and lobby group whose members include Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud, say that contrary to the general tone of the European Parliament’s findings, music streaming is “very beneficial for the music sector and leads to greater diversity and discovery of music”.
“Music streaming’s success with consumers in Europe and around the world is driven by freedom of choice and discovery, a combination of the on-demand nature of our services and relevant recommendations.” Olivia Regnier, president of Digital Music Europe and senior director of European policy at Spotify, said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “As a result, European music thrives because European fans love European and especially local music and choose to listen to it all the time. We therefore strongly dispute the report’s suggestions that regulation of the music streaming sector is needed and urge policymakers to conduct an in-depth analysis of diversity and artistic success in music streaming to gain objective evidence before considering any action.”
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