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Here's a short thread of the questions I asked record company executives from Sony, Universal and Warner in today's @CommonsDCMS' session of the investigation into the economics of music streaming. #BrokenRecord #FixStreaming
Firstly I asked them, if a new artist has signed a standard recording contract, how many streams would they need to achieve to earn one pound in net profit?
I put it to the record company executives that for an artist, in the example given, to earn one pound in net profit they would have to achieve 458.3 million streams.
Jason Iley from @SonyMusicUK says it's not a figure he's familiar with. He defends record company deals saying modern deals are all different and certain artists on his label have had options such as signing licence deals, distribution deals or life of copyright deals.
In response I make the point that artists have been telling the committee they were offered little choice in terms of record deals. Tony Harlow from @WarnerMusicUK agrees with Jason and says his label offer artists everything from DIY deals to distribution deals.
I put it to David Joseph from @UMusicUK that when an artist earns one pound from 458.3 million streams the record company earns £1.19 million. David says he doesn't recognise those figures and estimates his label earns £5,000 per million streams.
Finally I ask them to challenge the figures I produced in the example where artists earn one pound for 458.3 million streams and the record company receives £1.19 million. I ask them to write to the committee with their own figures and estimates.
