The overwhelming majority of musicians earn lower than £200 a yr from music streaming platforms, in line with a brand new survey.
The figures come from a survey of members belonging to songwriters’ physique The Ivors Academy and the Musicians’ Union, which discovered that 82 per cent of respondents earned lower than £200 from streaming in 2019, together with some with “thousands and thousands” of streams.
In the meantime, 92 per cent of respondents mentioned that lower than 5 per cent of their earnings got here from streaming final yr, whereas 43 per cent mentioned that inadequate revenue from streaming brought on them to get a job outdoors of music.
Graham Davies, CEO of The Ivors Academy mentioned: “This survey is additional demonstration that the track and the songwriter are undervalued. An excessive amount of streaming cash goes to the most important labels, that is an outdated mannequin and desires reform.”
The survey outcomes come amid an ongoing government inquiry into the influence of “the enterprise fashions” operated by the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play.
Nile Rodgers performs reside in January 2019. CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Photographs for Stay Nation
Musicians together with Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Nadine Shah and Gomez‘ Tom Grey advised MPs on the DCMS committee that streaming funds are “threatening the future of music”.
Over £1 billion in income was generated from 114 billion music streams within the UK final yr, with the inquiry noting, nonetheless, that “artists might be paid as little as 13% of the revenue generated”.
Tomorrow (December 8), Chic legend Nile Rodgers will address the committee, the place he’ll be joined by songwriter Fiona Bevan and jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch.
Final week, Shah wrote an article criticising streaming services for lining the pockets of “superstars and tremendous document labels” whereas smaller acts are left to rely extra on revenue from reside exhibits.
“The scenario was such that I briefly needed to transfer again in with my dad and mom over the summer season. Not the worst factor to occur, however nonetheless not an important search for a thirtysomething pop star,” Shah wrote. “Like most of my musician buddies who depend on gigs, I discovered myself in dire straits. (If solely I really had been in Dire Straits.)”
Final month, a YouGov poll of music fans found that 77% of respondents believe that artists deserve a greater share of revenue from streaming providers.
