The European Parliament wants streaming services to pay music makers more fairly

The European Parliament wants legislation to oblige streaming services to pay music makers more fairly. In addition, the parliamentarians want the services’ algorithms to become more transparent. Parliament is also considering a quota for European music.

In the motion asks the parliamentarians for additional EU legislation surrounding music streaming. Music makers, both music writers and performing musicians, currently receive ‘very little compensation’, according to parliament. At the same time, there is now no legislation at all regarding the payment of music makers via streaming services, even though these services are now the most common way to listen to music, according to parliament.

The parliamentarians refer to two to research who state, among other things, that rights holders such as labels now receive a large share of the income. According to parliament, music makers are now forced to agree to ‘payola systems’ that are based on the number of listens, which generate little to no income for those music makers. Otherwise, their work would hardly be visible on platforms, the European Parliament says.

In addition to the income of music makers, the parliamentarians also discuss algorithms and recommendation tools that music streaming services use. Music streaming services may abuse such algorithms and tools to manipulate streaming figures, parliament writes. These algorithms and tools should therefore be made transparent. The MPs also propose that music streaming services be required to use labels to indicate to listeners when a song has been created with artificial intelligence. Deepfakes should also be tackled.

With the legislation, the European Union should also ensure that music from European music makers is prominently visible in streaming services. For example, the Union should consider a quota for European music on streaming services, the parliamentarians say.

The motion was adopted by a large majority of 532 of 626 European parliamentarians. The motion itself is not a bill, but a call to the European Commission to come up with a bill itself.