Have your say in the DCMS Streaming Inquiry

With streaming currently accounting for more than half of the global music industry’s revenue, the Economics of music streaming inquiry from the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee will look at the business models operated by platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play.

Music streaming in the UK brings in more than £1 billion in revenue with 114 billion music streams in the last year – however artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated.

The Committee will also consider whether the government should be taking action to protect the industry from piracy in the wake of steps taken by the EU on copyright and intellectual property rights.

The inquiry is seeking the perspectives of industry experts, artists and record labels as well as streaming platforms themselves.

A selection of artists have been invited to speak to the Committee on Tuesday 24 November, over two sessions at 10am and 11am respectively.

Watch live on parliamentlive.tv

There may be a second ‘in person’ evidence session before Christmas. Until then, you still have time to give your own evidence into the inquiry.

The deadline for written evidence has been extended to Friday 11 December.

How to help

You can email the DCMS Select Committee at cmscom@parliament.uk  in support of the Musicians’ Union submission.

If you’re not sure what to say,  the MU have provided a template you can use as a starting point. Remember to add how the economics of music streaming affect your personally – it could make all the difference.

You can also give your own evidence to the inquiry  via the DCMS Select Committee website. There are five questions, and you can answer some or all of them.

If you’re not sure what to say, the MU’s guide to giving evidence includes useful tips and ideas to fix streaming – including asks that you can copy and paste across, and space for you to add your own experiences.

Still got questions? Take a look at  the MU’s FAQs for more on who should give evidence, why it matters, and other questions.