Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's Inquiry into the Economics of Music Streaming: Evidence from Dr Hayleigh Bosher

Abstract

How can policy favour more equitable business models? 1. Implement a system of equitable remuneration for the communication to the public right, where PPL distributes royalties, determined by the copyright tribunal. Implementing a right akin to the equitable remuneration currently available for rental. 2. Require more transparency from record labels, which is necessary for artists. Claims for data information could be made under the current UK data protection law, section 45 Data Protection Act 2018, which says that data controller (label) must grant the data subjects (artists) access to the personal data. 3. Copyright should revert back to the creator after a period of time. Under US law1 creators can, in certain circumstances, terminate a transfer or assignment of their copyright 35 years later. For songs created on or after 1 January 1978, the creator can send a notice to the person or company that they assigned their rights to and terminate the agreement. This is a unique rule under US law and does not apply in any other country, but we could certainly look at implementing something similar. 4. ‘Playlisters’ should be regulated by the UK Advertising Standards Agency in the same way as influencers. Playlisters get paid to create playlists that directly impact the discovery of music. The ASA provides specific guidance for influencers, which says that the code applies to branded content posted social media when the person is paid in some way, regardless of how many followers the person may have. 5. Seeking legal advice on contracts that cannot be reasonably negotiated should not protect labels from claims of undue influence, which should instead, in these circumstances, focus on the disadvantage to the signing artist. In addition, the measures of required transparency, allowing the copyright to revert back to the artist after a period of time and equitable remuneration, will go some way to rebalancing this contractual arrangement.