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Chief execs of Sony, Warner, and Universal all due to appear at the @CommonsDCMS economics of streaming inquiry next week: https://committees.parliament.uk/event/3404/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
Starting here in ~5mins https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/a251ac66-23e5-4f89-95cb-a982da3fc155
Jason Iley says that major labels are always acting in the interests of their artists. Suspect this not to be true unless their artists are also shareholders.
David Joseph now falling back on "commercial confidentiality" and the secret nature of Universal's deal with Spotify. Won't say whether beneficial deals with Spotify pass on benefits to artists. This opacity (and shutting out of artists) is surely a huge part of the problem.
Tony Harlow says that major label deals with streaming services don't involve preferential treatment in terms of playlist placements. Says that the major labels are just good 'storytellers' and that they're good at expressing the "importance" of artists to the streaming services.
This inquiry is supposed to be about the economics of streaming. Why is everyone being so shy about talking about the money?
Jason Iley talking about artists like Jorja Smith, AJ Tracey, Skepta signing to distribution companies rather than to major labels. Quietly ignores the fact that the major labels have been buying up distribution companies ever since they started posing a threat.
One important point that's been skimmed over: the labels say they "didn't realise how big streaming would get." Isn't it normal for businesses to seek a return on multi-million dollar investments? The labels purchased big stakes in the platforms. This didn't happen by accident?
Jason Iley says it's rare for an album advance today to be less than £200k. The singles market is even bigger, with one-off advances reaching as much as £300k. Doesn't answer on how deals are structured to enable the artist to pay their advance back.
David Joseph is asked whether he thinks it's fair that the majority of musicians were earning far below the national average income even before the pandemic. Says "can I answer the charity question first? I don't want it to appear that we're not supporting charities."
Another interesting side note: it was said at the beginning of this session that these men haven't seen or talked to each other in years. Might have just been exaggeration, but I find it hard to believe that they don't interact at all?
Find this line of questioning about ownership vs. subscription to be a little tired. Easy for the majors to argue that on-demand and subscriptions are now the norm. Would be interested to hear their take on models like @resonatecoop's 'stream2own' which blends the two.
David Joseph says that artists like Nadine Shah - with small-but-dedicated fanbases - aren't able to earn a living from streaming, as they rely more heavily on live music. Hints that there might be a better way to split the streaming pie. All but advocates for UCPS.
David Joseph says he has "loads of ideas" on how to improve streaming, particularly moving away from algorithmic curation. Will the majors use their (market and shareholder) influence on the streaming platforms to make these changes happen?
Finally it's brought up the fact that average royalty rate is 22%. David Joseph talks about Universal's artist royalty portal where artists can track their payments like a banking app and says they're all very happy. Is accused of living in "cloud cuckoo land".
David Joseph says signing and developing new artists is the lifeblood of the industry. Doesn't chime with the admission that singles advances for TikTok hits are where the money is right now.
Tony Harlow struggling to answer why more money is spent on paying out dividends than developing and signing artists. Disputes the figures.
David Joseph is asked how many streams an artist would need to clock to pay back an album advance and marketing costs. Says "I am not a mathmetician". Jason Iley says 10 million streams would earn back roughly £2,000.
Tony Harlow says a million streams is worth about £4-5,000 in revenue, and that would deliver around £1,000 to the artist. Says the number of artists achieving these numbers is growing, but that only artists getting billions of streams would pay back the £300k advance + costs.
David Joseph says that if Universal were to sell its stake in Spotify that it would share the equity with the artists. Avoids answering the question about whether the close relationship between the majors and the streaming services represents an oligopoly.
David Joseph says he is tired of being depicted as a company of Slytherins rather than Gryffindors. Chair closes the session by saying it's been more like a performance of Hufflepuffs. Hufflepuff representatives could not be reached for comment at this time.
