UK industry bodies the MMF and FAC have published some results from a survey of more than 150 managers and artists about the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their incomes. They have extrapolated the data to suggest that “over £50m has already been lost to the wider music economy” with live cancellations the main reason.
The two bodies are asking the wider music industry to consider four measures on top of what’s already happening to help. First: a “recoupment holiday” for artists and songwriters from major labels, publishers and ‘others who can afford it’ – the idea being that they could “pay streaming royalties straight through music makers regardless of the state of their balance” for a ‘defined short-term period’. Second, more direct contributions to emergency support funds for artists, musicians and their teams; third, the MMF and FAC have backed songwriter body The Ivors Academy’s call for collecting societies to redirect ‘black box’ (unattributed) royalties into hardship funds; and finally, it hopes the societies will consider “making more accessible the advances on performer and composer royalties as loans against future payments”.
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