As the president and CEO of US industry body DiMA, Garrett Levin speaks for the music streaming services – with enough of a separation to sometimes be able to say the things publicly which they would prefer not to. His latest guest column for Billboard makes for interesting reading in that light.
He highlights the growth of revenues for the major labels, as well as (unsurprisingly) “streaming’s ability to combine incredible music and unprecedented technological innovation”, but then gets into what he sees as “a critical inflection point” for the music industry.
“We must decide if we are willing to collectively take a long, hard look at structural and other issues, some of which are as old as the industry itself,” wrote Levin. “Together we should further explore alternative payment models such as user-centric; tackle ongoing data challenges that stymie effective and accurate royalty payments; and reconsider contracts premised on a pre-streaming industry. Finally, we should look at how we value the creation of music separate from its consumption, while recognizing that success in this industry has never been guaranteed. But everything must be on the table, and everybody must be at the table.”
As labels will doubtless tell him however, ‘everything’ may also include the topic of streaming subscription price rises…
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