This guest column is by Andy Heath CBE, director of Beggars Group and co-founder of UK Music. In it, he draws from his deep personal experience in the music industry […]
Tag: Transparency
Posted inNews
Manager and artist bodies publish sample ‘fair’ contract
Unfair contracts in the music industry? Perish the thought! We can’t believe those kinds of musician-screwing shenanigans have ever gone on in our world… Okay, yes. Yes they have.
But with ‘transparency’ one of the big industry buzzwords in 2017, at least there are some new efforts to fix the familiar faults of the industry.
The latest comes from UK industry bodies the Musicians Union (MU), Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and the UK’s Music Managers Forum (MMF).
Posted inAnalysis
Music Reports: ‘Blockchain doesn’t solve a problem that needs to be solved’
“There are many reasons why the blockchain is way before its time. It is much too early to think it’s the saviour of the business for a whole ton of reasons.”
Bill Colitre, VP & general counsel at Music Reports, is not blown away by blockchain technology, despite the current buzz about this technology’s potential for greater transparency and swifter reporting and payment for music usage.
Posted inNews
MMF boss calls for UMG to match Sony/WMG windfall promises
The new chief executive of the Music Managers Forum (MMF) is ruffling some feathers from the start: by demanding that Universal Music match rivals Sony Music and Warner Music’s promises to share any windfalls from a Spotify IPO or sale with artists.
“We will continue to have a dialogue with them and urge them to follow suit, but there hasn’t been a response so far,” Annabella Coldrick told Billboard.
Posted inNews
ASCAP adds licensable share info to boost transparency
With companies like Kobalt hammering away at traditional collecting societies for not being transparent enough, it’s no wonder some are trying to meet the challenge head-on.
ASCAP, for example, announced yesterday that it will now publicly declare what percentage share of public performance rights it represents for the 10m songs on its roster.
Posted inAnalysis, News
Music managers dissect digital music dollars: ‘This is to kickstart a debate’
The Music Managers Forum (MMF) has published its new Dissecting the Digital Dollar report, calling for greater transparency around the money musicians earn from digital music services.
The report was announced earlier this month but published this morning, with a press conference in London featuring manager Brian Message, the MMF’s Jon Webster and the report’s author, CMU’s Chris Cooke.
Based on qualitative research with 50 managers and 30 digital-music experts in five countries, the report digs in to managers’ views on issues from digital royalties to safe harbour legislation, but transparency was the key word judging by the launch.
Posted inAnalysis, News
Music managers’ report to tackle ‘erosion of trust’ in digital market
We’ve been pegging 2015 as the year when music managers start to exert much more influence in the debates over streaming payouts and artist royalties. A report due to be published by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) later this month has the makings of an important moment in that trend.
Titled “Dissecting the Digital Dollar”, the report is based on qualitative research with 50 artist managers and 30 digital-music experts across five countries. The report – written by CMU’s Chris Cooke – won’t be published until 13 October, with its detailed conclusions under wraps until then.
However, some nuggets are being announced this morning. For example, when asked how governments could help, 34% of managers surveyed said the most important issue was better transparency on digital income.
Meanwhile, 28% said their top priority is changes to the way safe-harbour legislation works in the US and Europe – also an increasingly important lobbying point for industry bodies from the IFPI and BPI to PRS for Music.
Posted inNews
IFPI hits back at Rethink Music claims on artist payments
The recent Rethink Music report on music industry transparency has already drawn a sharp response from US industry body the RIAA for its claims of missing royalties for artists. Now […]
Posted inNews
RIAA welcomes Rethink Music (but also criticises it)
The report on music-industry transparency earlier this week from the Rethink Music initiative has been welcomed by US industry body the RIAA – but it also has some issues with […]
Posted inAnalysis, News
Rethink Music puts focus back on music-industry transparency
Berklee College of Music’s Rethink Music initiative has published its report on ‘Transparency and Money Flows in the Music Industry’ and while it may hold few surprises for Music Ally readers, the report does a fine job of highlighting the considerable scope for improvement within the industry as we move towards a more streaming-focused consumption model.
Posted inNews
Amazon pulls out of MIC Coalition lobbying body
There’s unrest within the ranks of the MIC Coalition, the lobbying body that launched in April to campaign in the US to “ensure that upcoming decisions on copyright are grounded […]
Posted inNews
UMG says it shares digital breakage money with artists
Universal Music has become the third of the major labels to claim that it shares digital ‘breakage’ money with artists, following a campaign by Music Business Worldwide. That means all […]