Streaming: UK study shows 82% of musicians make less than $270

This is according to a survey conducted by The Ivors Academy and the Musicians’ Union. The poll was conducted ahead of the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee’s (DCMS’s) second hearing of its streaming inquiry, which was held on Tuesday. It seeked to establish the state of artist royalty payments from music streaming services, and included musicians whose streams range from thousands to millions of plays.

Additionally, more than 90% of the respondents said less than 5% of their earnings came from music streaming last year and 43% said that insufficient income from the revenue stream had led them to get a job outside of the music field. The survey also found that £1bn in revenue was generated from 114 billion music streaming plays in the UK in the same year.

“This survey is further demonstration that the song and the songwriter are undervalued,” The Ivors Academy CEO Graham Davies said. “Too much streaming money is going to the major labels, this is an outdated model and needs reform. We have the best songwriters in the world and they deserve more.”

In Zimbabwe, a recent UNESCO report shows local musicians do not gain much income directly from music streaming, with only 8% of artists making more than $500 from the revenue stream last year. The leader of the research study and UNESCO music expert, Yarri Camara, said the statistics were worrisome for a country where 34% of the population consumed music primarily via streaming services. “Only 8% of consumers do not use streaming platforms regularly, that is, at least once a week, while YouTube is by far the most commonly accessed streaming platform used by 78% of consumers,” she said.

The first UK hearing focused on the argument that artists are not getting a fair share of digital income, while the second sitting zoomed in on songwriters and their share of music streaming income. During Tuesday's hearing, The Ivors Academy called for regulation of major music firms and new data standards.

The committee also heard from three artists, including singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan, who said that “the reality of being a songwriter at the moment is extremely stark because we’re not being paid fairly for our work”. She added: “I recently had a song on a UK No 1 album, the fastest-selling solo artist album of 2020 [Kylie Minogue’s ‘Disco’], and it will surprise many people that, from what seems like an incredible success, I have only earned £100”.

At the first hearing, labels were singled out as part of the problem for artists receiving little income from streaming. Although about 55% of streaming income is paid over to the recording industry, artists on traditional record contracts only receive a minority share of that money. Earlier this year, former Spotify director of research Tristan Jehan pinned the blame for low artist payout rates on labels. According to music distributor Ditto, YouTube's pays $0.00069 for each play, while Tidal and Napster offer the highest rates of $0.01284 and $0.019 per stream.

Additionally, music industry professionals also made a call for equitable remuneration, a system used to pay royalties from broadcast usage of music in the UK, to be included in the country’s streaming economics.

Meanwhile, UK independent label The Other Songs has carved out a new songwriter royalty for music streams by giving back 3% of its streaming income to songwriters.