MMF sets out its agenda on streaming after staging a series of debates involving over 200 people from across the music business in the UK, US, Canada and France 

The Music Managers Forum has today formally called for more transparency around the music industry’s streaming deals - and the way labels, publishers and collective management organisations (CMOs) process and pay digital royalties - so that managers and their artists can make informed decisions about the future of the streaming market. 

The MMF believes the wider music industry now needs to work together to further grow the premium streaming market that is driving the recent uplift in recorded music revenues, but that requires rights owners and collecting societies being more open with artists, songwriters and their representatives about their digital deals, and the ways streaming income is shared between the different stakeholder groups.

Transparency was identified as the single biggest issue affecting the streaming market during a series of roundtable debates staged by the MMF in the UK, US, Canada and France earlier this year. These discussions are summarised in detail in ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar Part Two’, a major new research report. The new report comes a year after the publication of ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar Part One’, which explained the mechanics of how streaming services are licensed by the music industry and raised a number of issues.

Managers need to better understand streaming deals so that they can audit their artists’ royalties, advise clients on the best music industry business partners to work with, and make informed decisions about which streaming services – and which streaming business models - work best for their artists, so that those artists can confidentially encourage fans to become paying customers of the right streaming platforms.  

The MMF intends to work with its members to compile a list of the specific areas of the streaming business where clarity is required, such as royalty deductions and discounts, the sharing of unallocated advances and equity, and how each streaming service calculates what it owes each rights owner. It will also work with the wider industry to overcome the issues that are in part hindering transparency, such as non-disclosure agreements in the streaming services’ contracts and competition law concerns. 

MMF’s Chief Executive Annabella Coldrick and President Jon Webster comment: 

“The launch of ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar Part Two’ continues the MMF's long campaign for a more transparent music industry with the interests of artists and fans at its core. Through this report, we have been able to get to the heart of key issues affecting the modern music business ecosystem and identify practical steps for our members, their artists and the wider industry.”

“The MMF is committed to educating and enabling the management community and scrutinising the entire music value chain to make sure that everyone is properly remunerated for their hard work and creative contributions. We hope that all who read this report will share our vision and work with us to create a fairer music business.”

Other findings in the report, produced for the MMF by music business consultancy CMU Insights, include:

• While recognising that record companies continue to make significant investments in new music, many in the music community believe that there needs to be a frank conversation about how streaming income is shared. 

• Many people felt that the share received by heritage artists, session musicians and songwriters needs particular consideration, and that a ‘performer equitable remuneration’ system like that that operates in the radio sector and the ‘contract adjustment mechanism’ proposed in the draft European copyright directive might be ways to address some of these concerns.

• Managers acknowledged and welcomed commitments made by many labels to share the value of unallocated advances and equity with artists, though they are seeking clarity on what exactly those commitments mean and how they will be delivered.  

• Artists and songwriters would generally prefer more digital services to be licensed through the collective licensing system, though managers recognise that there can be issues with that approach. CMOs should seek to address those issues.  

• Everyone agrees that the music industry needs to address its music data issues. Many managers felt the CMOs should take the lead here – and acknowledged that some already are - while recognising that they themselves may need to be more proactive in ensuring artist, songwriters and producers log correct data for new works.  

• Artists and managers shared the concerns of labels and publishers over opt-out streaming services that exploit the safe harbours of copyright law, though again transparency issues need to be addressed so that managers can take a more informed viewpoint on this matter. 

The complete report outlining all of the debates that took place at the roundtables, key recommendations and MMF’s planned activities can be found in the full version of the report, which can be downloaded at: themmf.net/digitaldollar