MMF publishes ambitious three-step $ong Royalties ManifestoMMF publishes ambitious three-step $ong Royalties Manifesto to overhaul how songwriters and composers are paid when their work is streamed #glassboxnotblackbox / Writers should receive payment with two months of their compositions being playedNew commitments needed to capture and standardise song data, and make it publicly accessible / End the misallocation of writers revenues: “We need a glass box, not a black box”Read the $ong Royalties Manifesto below. Discussion today at The Great Escape (link below)OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASENEWS PROVIDED BY MMF Today at The Great Escape, the Music Managers Forum (MMF) will present an ambitious three-step manifesto that aims to address failing music industry systems and practices that are resulting in songwriters and composers losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds in streaming revenues. While artists can be paid within two months of their recordings being streamed, because of structural inefficiencies in how royalties are collected and distributed it can take over two years for the music writers to receive their share of royalties - often after considerable deductions are extracted, and with the risk that significant sums of money are mis-reported and unallocated. The MMF highlighted the negative impacts of these so-called “royalty chains” when unveiling our $ong Royalties Guide at 2019’s Great Escape as part of our long-running Dissecting The Digital Dollar initiative. Three years on and, against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the underlying dysfunctions with music streaming are under renewed scrutiny. A high-profile DCMS Select Committee inquiry concluded that a “complete reset” of streaming was required to benefit music creators, while the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has recently convened a number of pan-industry committees to explore market reform - including two working groups focussed specifically on transparency and data. To help inform this work and deliver much-needed change, the MMF, in partnership with CMU, is today publishing what we believe are viable solutions to the problems identified in 2019. Our long-term goal is to ensure the payment of song royalties is as quick, efficient and accurate as the payment of recording royalties. Writers should be paid no later than two months after a track is streamed. By comprehensively overhauling how data is uploaded and collected, and by making that data easily accessible, we believe song royalties could be paid with 100% accuracy - eliminating the need for a digital “black box” - while transforming how music usage is reported, administered and accounted for. Our three steps for action are as follows: Step One: Immediate logging of splits and issuing of ISWC (the song code) Each new ISWC should be immediately available in a publicly accessible database managed by an organisation appointed by the music industry - not dissimilar to the database mandated in the US by the Music Modernization Act and now run by the MLC. Step Two: Provision of ISWC (song code) with recording as released In the longer term, streaming services should only accept recordings where an ISWC is included in the metadata. Provision of an incorrect ISWC with a recording should have a negative impact on a distributor’s ranking with the services, as is currently the case with other inadequate metadata. Step Three: Provision of work ownership data to the services as standard These data feeds should then be aggregated and made available through the publicly accessible database, enabling music services to identify ownership splits - and allowing them to pay licensors as promptly and accurately as they do with recordings. This step should turn what is currently an opaque black box of song royalties into a glass box #glassboxnotblackbox The $ong Royalties Manifesto can be downloaded here and will be discussed in detail today at The Great Escape conference from 11am. Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum: Paul Craig, Chair, MMF: The MMF’s three-step manifesto has already won backing from across the industry. Amy Thomson, Chief Catalog Officer, Hipgnosis Songs: “Black boxes are not acceptable. Anything which seems unclear, inexplicable and hidden in an age of data speed and accuracy like we have never seen needs to be smashed. Profits being made by monies not reaching the correct recipient because the system let them down, a system they had no part in designing, has to end.” Crispin Hunt, Songwriter, PRS Director, Former Chair The Ivor’s Academy: Graham Davies, CEO of The Ivors Academy: Jackie Davidson MBE, Founder, JD Management: Jazz Rocket, Founder - 67 Artists:
Source MMF
May 12, 2022 2:00am ET by Pressparty |