What we don’t know about streaming music…but what we should know!

Spotify recently revealed… collar Annual which refers to us, artists in the music sector, number Streams How much our songs got during the year and how many people listened to us. Meanwhile, subscribers to the platforms flow You can also get their results online and discover the artists who have had them rocking all year long. Unfortunately, these artists do not get fair value for these plays.

Artist Damon Krukowski spoke last week Watchman To denounce what this compilation doesn’t say: artists deserve to be paid better for all these listens.

At the same time, Artiste, which I chair, has launched a mobilization campaign to denounce the unfair distribution of royalties and demand reform of the financial system. Copyright law.

Amplifiers

In fact, performers in the music sector do not benefit from fair remuneration when their music is the subject matter flow Customized (type flow offered by paid platforms that allow you to play a specific song instantly on the device of your choice). Thus, Damon Krukowski suggests that the maximum a soundtrack can generate on Spotify is $0.003 USD ($0.00406 CAD).

And of this small amount, almost nothing reaches the performers!

In fact, the amounts paid by the platforms are not paid directly to the performers, unlike what is done to music authors (poets and composers). In the case of performers, payments previously passed through a chain of stakeholders (distributor, record company, producer).

Each participant takes the share he deems he is entitled to. At the end of the series, only crumbs are left for the artist.

In short, if the featured artist is getting paid for this kind of flowThese are often ridiculous amounts. As for the artists accompanying him (the musicians and singers who accompany him), they do not receive anything in return flow When their music is in demand, because the contracts between them and the producers do not stipulate the payment of any royalties.

Solution

Underpayment for performers whose music is heard on-demand is common on a global scale, but three countries have found a solution.

Spain, Belgium and Uruguay have provided mechanisms for performers to obtain fairer wages. Why shouldn’t Canada be able to do this too?

Pay problem flow It cannot be settled by platforms flow. Their proposals will not guarantee that the money will reach the performers. Rather, the payment must go directly to them or to the company that represents them. To do this, the federal government has the power to change things through an amendment Copyright law In order to provide the right to a wage that guarantees them royalties for every listen to their music on online platforms.

We call on the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascal Saint-Onge, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, François-Philippe Champagne, to put an end to this unfair situation as quickly as possible.

We encourage the public to take our message to their elected officials.

In the name of music!

france love, Head artist