We wrote last week about British politician Kevin Brennan’s presentation of a private member’s bill in the houses of parliament that will focus on music streaming and artists. We noted that because of the way the British legislation system works, the actual bill will not be published until later this year. Now Brennan has written a guest article for the Independent offering a few more details.
“The law on copyright states that if you performed on a record that is played on the radio you are entitled to a payment. That same right does not apply in the UK if your recording is listened to on a streaming service like Spotify,” wrote Brennan. “My bill would bring the law up to date by creating a new right for musicians to an additional share of the revenue from streaming. This is particularly timely because the stated aim of streaming companies, like Spotify, is to replace radio as the way that people mostly listen to music.”
The British music industry will now be preparing for a big lobbying battle around applying equitable remuneration (ER) to streaming, although this is not a big surprise given the issue’s prominence in the hearings of the UK’s music streaming economics inquiry. Brennan is one of the MPs on the committee holding that inquiry, which is now preparing its report with recommendations.
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