Today is the last day to get in touch with your MP and ask them to support the #BrennanBill.
This Bill is the result of one of the most extensive select committee inquiries ever held.
The elements it brings in were recommended by multiple lawyers, academics and executives.
A form of Equitable Remuneration has been part of the international conversation around streaming for over a decade. This is nothing new or unconsidered.
Contract limits already exist in places like the USA and the Netherlands.
The right to see our own data is obvious.
But legislation is an iterative process. The bill has to go through a committee and report stage before being finally read so it can change completely.
How it changes can be influenced by industry.
The work being done by the IPO can feed into this process.
It's a process.
There are no 'unintended consequences' because the bill, in its present form, will not become law.
There are many principles at stake here, but primarily the one that comes to mind is:
The music industry has a problem and WE ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Here’s a thought about @PaulMcCartney and his beat combo.
Between 1965 and ‘69, many people assert that some of the greatest records ever produced were made by The Beatles
They never played a single live show in that period.
Let’s look at if Rubber Soul was released today.
In 1965, 1.8 million copies sold in the USA. 11 songs. That’s 19.8 million confirmed song sales. That’s about £80k for Parlophone in streaming terms and £16k for The Beatles.
Let’s be fairer, say everyone averaged listening 20 times that year.
So that’s £1.6 million and £320k
The band recorded for one month in Abbey Road Studio 2. Renting that room, a rough guess, £3k per day. So that’s £90k for the room. A producer of George Martin’s stature today, no less than £15k. So the band are already endebted to the label for £105k.
OH MY GOD. The deals between the majors and the streaming services.
The thread many of you requested. It gets a bit sticky, tricky and puzzling, but that’s the point.
The themes of this story: a lack of transparency and accountability for artists and a system that disdains the relationship between artists and their fans.
What makes telling this so hard is these deals are hidden behind NDAs for “reasons of commercial confidentiality”.
You won’t be surprised that I think this is bullshit. It is a serious flaw of the present system that the scrap for minor advantage between labels is paramount. Forget fair remuneration or helping artists understand their audiences…. Priorities you say.
Why the music industry HAS to change and why it has to change now. A thread. Stick with it!
I hope it’s not wrong of me to assume that most people don’t know or fully understand how musicians get paid. Truth is, I know an awful lot of musicians that don’t understand how they get paid.
We can’t expect our legislators or, more importantly, consumers to demand change on our behalves when it is such an annoyingly complex picture. However, everything is getting desperately clear.
Let’s start from the top. The music business is like the finance industry 20 years ago. Unregulated by governments who misunderstand how it works. When I direct my anger at ‘the IFPI’, I’m talking about the Major Labels: @UMG, @sonymusic & @warnermusic.
They have been able to run the market based on their terms. They own more than two thirds of ALL recorded music. You may ask, but *how* have competition authorities allowed this to happen? Sadly the answer is: fuck knows.
They are presently making between 20 and 50 million dollars every single day from streaming and this is how they did it.